With a charming cast of characters that readers will be eager to follow, this is a welcome addition to what should become a...
Following series opener Spirit Week Showdown (2016), the magnificent Mya Tibbs is back, and so is her competitive spirit!
The little black cowgirl’s plans to watch the Annie Oakley marathon with her mother are ruined when her former BFF challenges Mya to enter the Wall of Fame Game. The other fourth-graders have honorable reasons for entering the academic game, but Mya just wants to win the bet. This alone would have been a fine catalyst for a lesson in hard work and determination, but Allen layers on the drama for Mya. Mya’s pride leads her to also compete in the Bluebonnet Chili Cook-Off—and for her expectant mother’s attention. Mya quickly overextends herself and starts using shortcuts to finish faster, with hilarious results. As in the previous book, the author lets Mya and her friends make mistakes and express their feelings in a natural rather than pedantic way. Mya and her brother, Nugget, know their parents love them but still worry they’ll be ignored when the baby is born. Mya knows winning isn’t everything, but it’s still important to her, and she draws on all her creativity and some help from her peers to do her best.
With a charming cast of characters that readers will be eager to follow, this is a welcome addition to what should become a long-running middle-grade series. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-234236-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage...
This sequel to The Lemonade War (2007), picking up just a few days later, focuses on how the fourth graders take justice into their own hands after learning that the main suspect in the case of the missing lemonade-stand money now owns the latest in game-box technology.
Siblings Evan and Jessie (who skipped third grade because of her precocity) are sure Scott Spencer stole the $208 from Evan’s shorts and want revenge, especially as Scott’s new toy makes him the most popular kid in class, despite his personal shortcomings. Jessie’s solution is to orchestrate a full-blown trial by jury after school, while Evan prefers to challenge Scott in basketball. Neither channel proves satisfactory for the two protagonists (whose rational and emotional reactions are followed throughout the third-person narrative), though, ultimately, the matter is resolved. Set during the week of Yom Kippur, the story raises beginning questions of fairness, integrity, sin and atonement. Like John Grisham's Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (2010), much of the book is taken up with introducing courtroom proceedings for a fourth-grade level of understanding. Chapter headings provide definitions (“due diligence,” “circumstantial evidence,” etc.) and explanation cards/documents drawn by Jessie are interspersed.
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage with the characters enough to care about how the justice actually pans out. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-27967-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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