Entertaining and wise.
Fifth grader Walter copes with his father’s sudden departure, life with Grandpa, and the challenges of a new school.
“All great moments start with a choice.” The book opens with Walter expounding on this quotation from his father, written in a journal that Walter’s filled with Dad’s words of wisdom. But Walter also directs readers’ attention to Dad’s advice on avoiding constipation—which sets the tone for this candid, reflective, and wildly funny novel. Up until now, Walter’s enjoyed a nomadic existence with his musician father, but for some reason, he can’t accompany Dad on his latest gig and must stay with his reserved, routine-loving grandfather. On his first day at his new school, Walter seizes the opportunity to make new-and-improved announcements over the intercom system. Because this is a performing arts school with an understanding principal, Walter’s catapulted to fame rather than shame. He’s soon cast as the lead in the school production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. New friend Filomena provides encouragement as Walter leans into his dad’s advice to “be weird,” “be kind,” and “find the music in life.” Meanwhile, phone calls from Dad prove enigmatic until Walter finally learns the real reason why he’s been gone. Though some supporting characters are one-dimensional, collectively they offer insight into the adolescent experience. The novel skillfully weaves together lighthearted plot threads and more serious issues, including alcoholism, coming to a heartwarming—if somewhat predictable—conclusion. Walter is cued white; there’s some diversity among the cast.
Entertaining and wise. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9780063324961
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean.
A 12-year-old copes with a brain tumor.
Maddie likes potatoes and fake mustaches. Kids at school are nice (except one whom readers will see instantly is a bully); soon they’ll get to perform Shakespeare scenes in a unit they’ve all been looking forward to. But recent dysfunctions in Maddie’s arm and leg mean, stunningly, that she has a brain tumor. She has two surgeries, the first successful, the second taking place after the book’s end, leaving readers hanging. The tumor’s not malignant, but it—or the surgeries—could cause sight loss, personality change, or death. The descriptions of surgery aren’t for the faint of heart. The authors—parents of a real-life Maddie who really had a brain tumor—imbue fictional Maddie’s first-person narration with quirky turns of phrase (“For the love of potatoes!”) and whimsy (she imagines her medical battles as epic fantasy fights and pretends MRI stands for Mustard Rat from Indiana or Mustaches Rock Importantly), but they also portray her as a model sick kid. She’s frightened but never acts out, snaps, or resists. Her most frequent commentary about the tumor, having her skull opened, and the possibility of death is “Boo” or “Super boo.” She even shoulders the bully’s redemption. Maddie and most characters are white; one cringe-inducing hallucinatory surgery dream involves “chanting island natives” and a “witch doctor lady.”
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean. (authors’ note, discussion questions) (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62972-330-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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