A sincere journey of navigating friendship and self-discovery.
Lucía Zapata and Camila Ramirez have been best friends since they were 2.
When Cami finally returns to Miami from spending summer vacation visiting family in Colombia, Luchy, who’s also Colombian American, is thrilled. She’s ready to begin sixth grade with Cami and Chilean American Mateo, her other bestie, by her side. Surely nothing could go wrong. But after Luchy is thrown into the world of middle school, she experiences challenges beyond even her many worries. Cami is suddenly “extra. Extra makeup. Extra cool. Extra popular,” and she thinks Mateo’s Spider-Man book bag and Luchy’s colorful leggings don’t project the right image. But why should Luchy change for anyone else? Still, as Cami makes friends who she says are more “mature” and less “babyish,” Luchy becomes desperate to get her BFF back. She tries a new look and makes a scrapbook tribute to their friendship, but when those efforts don’t yield the desired results, Luchy decides maybe she should teach Cami a lesson instead. Can they learn to understand each other, or will their friendship be ruined forever? Alessandri’s latest explores classic middle school themes of trying to fit in versus being yourself, and readers will see themselves and their peers in both Luchy and Cami. The infusion of Colombian cultural elements and Spanish phrases makes this stand out.
A sincere journey of navigating friendship and self-discovery. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: July 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781665935968
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 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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