A compassionate, feel-good story affording readers opportunities for identification, information, and inspiration.
A contemporary, character-driven, coming-of-age story about a queer tween and their crush.
Nonbinary Green Gibson is active in Jung Middle School’s Rainbow Spectrum affinity group and is looking forward to auditioning for their school’s revamped production of The Wizard of Oz, in which actors get to choose the genders of their roles. Green isn’t cast in the play, but their disappointment turns to curiosity when their crush, Ronnie, signs up to help behind the scenes. When Green joins the stage crew as well, Ronnie—who is white, has two moms, and describes himself as a “cis het guy”—keeps signaling his interest, and Green can’t stop thinking about Ronnie. This situation leads Green, who’s also dealing with looming questions related to the onset of puberty, to interrogate everything and embrace complexity and ambiguity. Filled with age-relevant experiences and deeper, more introspective reflections on bodily autonomy, identity, and internalized oppression, the plot stays laser-focused on Green and their close-knit, caring, and wise intergenerational sphere. Information-packed dialogue that at times feels a bit forced embeds history and possibility into the upbeat and affirming narrative, educating readers about topics such as gender theorist Judith Butler and the term friend of Dorothy. Readers familiar with Gino’s Melissa (2015) and Rick (2020) will recognize the setting as well as some of the characters and occasional nods to their backstories. Green is cued white; the school community is broadly diverse.
A compassionate, feel-good story affording readers opportunities for identification, information, and inspiration. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781338776140
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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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