A vibrant battle cry for rainbow kids.
Twelve-year-old Joy fights harsh opposition to her cheerleading in this collaboration between trans child activist Shappley and middle-grade author Bunker.
When her best friend, Max, introduces Joy to cheer, she falls in love with the sport. The two get together with another girl, Steph, calling themselves the Sparkle Squad. They plan to practice their cheer routines before tryouts when seventh grade starts. All three girls do make the team, and despite their heavy workload and high academic expectations, Joy loves it—until someone outs her as transgender and she’s banned from the team in accordance with a Texas law limiting participation based on sex assigned at birth. Joy is also required to use the school nurse’s bathroom, and Steph turns hostile. But Max stands by her side, kicking Steph out of the Sparkle Squad, and they’re joined by a mix of supportive cheer team members and kids who feel excluded. When a bill threatening families with trans kids is put before the Texas Senate, Joy, inspired by watching real-world activist Shappley’s Senate testimony, decides the Sparkle Squad is ready to cheer in support of trans rights. Joy is a fundamentally resilient character with an unconditionally supportive mom and the enviable quality of resilience, bouncing back after each obstacle and defeat. Her attitude and proactive nature keep the narrative upbeat while never undermining the serious nature of the issues raised. Main characters read White. Final art not seen.
A vibrant battle cry for rainbow kids. (advice for activists, song list) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9780063242753
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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