An overly moralistic tone weighs down the appeal of this volume.
A self-centered mummy learns a tough lesson.
This second volume of the Monster High School Spirits series follows image-obsessed mummy Cleo de Nile, who divides her time between making videos for EekTok and scheming how to catch her jet-setting parents’ attention. Cleo begins to plan HumanCon, a convention in which monsters will celebrate and learn about all things human. As her plans grow more grandiose, she stumbles upon an item she thinks would be the perfect prize for the con’s costume contest; after she steals it, however, she quickly learns that the object has cursed her. Now Cleo is moving in a trancelike way, helping everyone around her whether she wants to or not. It gets to the point where she eschews sleep and food, despite being hungry and exhausted. Can Cleo figure out how to break the curse before it’s too late? Based on the Nickelodeon show, Cuevas’ work falls solidly in line with the tone and pacing of 2023’s A Fright To Remember. Fans of the franchise will be well acquainted with the vast character list and bespoke monster lingo. Newcomers may be deterred by the bloated list of monsters (some garnering nothing more than a passing mention) and the endless monster puns. Cleo’s journey to self-realization is predictable and facile, becoming obvious to readers long before it is to Cleo.
An overly moralistic tone weighs down the appeal of this volume. (Paranormal fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781419772924
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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 real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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