Taken all together, the spunk of the primary characters, the dialogue and the “home-is-where-you-make-it” underlying message...
Mo Wren can’t imagine living anywhere but Fox Street—until her father buys a rundown restaurant on East 213th Street. Newly named The Wren House, it lacks the tightly knit community that she loves, needs a total revamping and supposedly is cursed!
This sequel to What Happened on Fox Street (2010) reintroduces the likable characters from the first book: Mo’s “wild child” sister, Dottie; her unhandy father; and elderly neighbors that she misses terribly. But new ones emerge to fill her emotional cracks: Shawn, a hyperkinetic classmate, and Carmella, owner of the Soap Opera Laundromat and nurturer of the neighborhood. When the restoration of the restaurant goes awry, Mo begins to think it is cursed, especially on the night of the opening, when a freak blizzard hits. Plot details are often foreseeable and convenient but nevertheless believable; readers won't be surprised that Dottie’s pet lizard gets loose and can’t be found or that the homeless handyman helps with the makeover, but these elements fit right in cozily. The correlation between the Laundromat’s lost and found (providing a needed article at the right time) and Mo’s feelings are subtle but nicely tied together (a yellow sweater reminds Mo of her dead mother).
Taken all together, the spunk of the primary characters, the dialogue and the “home-is-where-you-make-it” underlying message serve up a plateful of enjoyable story. And there’s room for thirds. (Sketches not seen.) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-199039-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
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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