Although Oscar successfully resolves his bully problem and his clumsiness, the draw here is the magic, not the somewhat...
Chronically clumsy Oscar presents an easy target for bullies—until he discovers a magical anti-gravity solution.
After curiously following a raccoon over a hill, Oscar stumbles upon an overgrown, abandoned caboose that was evidently once the traveling headquarters of an old-time–y huckster named Dr. Oopsie. Inside he find bottles of a solution that, when applied, counteracts gravity—but only until it dries. This gives him and his best friend, Asha, the opportunity to do amazing things: spinning through the air, easily climbing tall trees, and, best of all, flying around clinging to the blades of a ceiling fan. But the anti-gravity solution can be dangerous, too, since it wears off abruptly. After Oscar and Asha discover local bullies vandalizing the caboose, Oscar angrily drenches the lead bully with anti-gravity solution then allows him to float away, leaving Asha and a guilty-feeling Oscar to explore (and didactically explain) the difference between bullies and “not-mean” kids. Bonet’s cartoonlike cover art and a pair of interior illustrations effectively play up a forbidding setting for the caboose. In spite of ceiling-fan fun, Peterson never fully limns the enchanting potential of anti-gravity applications. The conclusion hints at a sequel, which readers will hope comes with a more substantial dose of magic.
Although Oscar successfully resolves his bully problem and his clumsiness, the draw here is the magic, not the somewhat bromidic bibliotherapy. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62370-244-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
SEEN & HEARD
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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