Alas, there’s no blockbuster here.
Can Charlie Joe Jackson’s pal Pete Milano survive the transition from school prankster to Hollywood movie star?
On the run after his most recent prank (stealing Eliza Collins’ pompoms), Pete ducks into a coffee shop and meets Iris Galt, an actual movie producer. She thinks he has “relate-ability” and invites him to audition for her latest film. Everyone at school thinks he’s just pulling a prank until he gets the job. Then he has to learn how to juggle being in a movie and going to school. He has to learn his lines and be responsible, and that doesn’t mesh with his pranking persona or keeping in touch with his friends. The most difficult balancing act turns out to be keeping his real girlfriend, Puerto Rican new girl Mareli, while acting opposite gorgeous megastar Shana Fox. Shana makes that impossible when she decides to use Pete to make her boyfriend jealous. Dotted with Pete’s own captioned illustrations (which don’t add as much as they might), Greenwald’s newest Charlie Joe Jackson spinoff is a bit bland. The many inane screenplay excerpts from Sammy and the Princess, Pete’s movie, that punctuate the narrative halt what little action Pete’s tale has. Engaging Everykid Pete is lost in a predictable and strangely unfunny tale.
Alas, there’s no blockbuster here. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62672-167-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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