An unusual, inspiring, and intriguing story.
Young entrepreneurs develop a bug-based business model.
On a school field trip to the zoo, sixth grade vegetarian Hallie Amberose tries a spicy fried cricket and it changes her life. Hallie dives into researching bugs, learning that they’re eaten all over the world, and becomes enamored with possibilities of ending world hunger and saving the planet at the same time. When a business opportunity in the form of a school business pitch project presents itself, Hallie finds herself paired with Jaye Wu—who refuses to do a school project on bugs, let alone eat them. The story is filled with realistic conflicts typical of the middle school years that move the plot forward; Hallie struggles with loneliness while Jaye worries about fitting in. After an unexpected incident, the two forge an unlikely yet believable bond and learn to work together through bug-catching and -cooking experiments. Told through Hallie’s and Jaye’s distinctly alternating perspectives, the book acquaints readers with both headstrong girls and the motivations for their actions. The expressive illustrations peppered throughout complement the descriptive and informative text well, capturing characters’ emotions and personalities. Based on the true story of co-authors and Chirps cricket chips co-founders D’Asaro and Wang, Hallie and Jaye’s bug adventures for the greater good will entrance readers and even encourage them to try eating bugs. Hallie presents White; Jaye is Chinese American.
An unusual, inspiring, and intriguing story. (cricket cookie recipe, interview) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-09617-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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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