A heartwarming coming-of-age tale about swimming, sisterhood, and principles.
With three high achievers for sisters, Chinese American sixth grader Esme Sun is sure she’ll never meet her mother’s expectations.
Esme is looking forward to spending summer vacation at the local pool with her swim team. But this year, her plans for a carefree summer run into problems—her teammate Tegan (who presents white) seems more interested in boys and fashion than swimming, and she chides Esme for being “too intense.” A misunderstanding leads to a prickly relationship between Esme and new girl Kaya, who’s Black, and the swim meets lead to unpleasant encounters with more competitive swimmers. Esme finds herself torn between trying to stay close to Tegan, despite her mean jabs, and making new friends at the pool. As she begins to excel at the meets and finally wins her mother’s approval, Esme also has to decide if it’s better to put herself first and focus on winning—as her mom advises—or uphold the true sporting spirit and teamwork that the swim meets represent. Told from Esme’s first-person perspective, this well-crafted tale deftly examines the pressures of success and the courage necessary to find one’s own path. The characters are well etched and relatable, and the story gracefully underscores the importance of talking through problems with empathy and tolerance. Shang also addresses racism and colorism; Esme’s stand and her decisions in the face of her longed-for approval from her mother will resonate with readers.
A heartwarming coming-of-age tale about swimming, sisterhood, and principles. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781546115380
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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