Seymour’s tale is mainly for people who are really sick of more conventional hero’s-journey narratives.
In many novels the main character overcomes great obstacles to achieve what he or she wants in the world. But Seymour doesn’t want to do anything.
Seymour avoids the subway, swimming, going outside, and—most of all—learning to ride a bike. He’s afraid of so many things that the book becomes a sort of anti-story in which the main obstacle is Seymour. His Israeli cousin Pesach, by contrast, is outgoing and gregarious, and on his visit to Seymour’s family he instantly wants to see Grand Central Station and to help people he’s just met repair their bicycle. Readers might expect Seymour to rise to the challenge and maybe even talk to his neighbor “the beautiful, perfect Lari,” and occasionally he does, but he’s a master at finding a beautiful, perfect excuse not to, like the appearance of the “biggest, hairiest” dog he’s ever seen, which triggers a sneezing fit. This might be entertaining if the excuses were funny, but Seymour’s best joke is a fantasy that Lari has parents named Shari and Harry. (She does have a sister named Bari.) Both are extremely blonde and blue-eyed. The races of the characters aren’t always identified, but many, like Seymour and his family, are Jewish, and the text does frequently note the diversity of New York crowds. When Seymour finally overcomes his fear, in the closing chapters, it’s very satisfying, but it’s an awfully long wait. Singh’s spot art decorates the text.
Seymour’s tale is mainly for people who are really sick of more conventional hero’s-journey narratives. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-3951-8
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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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