A strongly characterized paranormal coming-of-age story that grapples with relatable issues.
After moving into her late grandmother’s haunted home, a girl attempts to make friends while hiding her inherited powers as a paranormal medium.
Despite her newfound anxiety over her gift following a near-fatal spectral encounter, Black seventh grader Wednesday Thomas sees and interacts with ghosts every day, everywhere she goes. These spirits include harmless wisp and guide ghosts; she tries to avoid the wicked ones—malevolent, violent shape-shifters who terrorize both the living and the dead. But Wednesday must face her fears when she’s invited to join the top-secret Dead Club at school. She agrees to help new buddies Miki Okada and Danni-Lynn Porter communicate with Violet Delgado, their recently deceased friend, who appeared to them on Halloween, desperate for help. Although she’s warned away from the group by estranged member Alexa Scott and unnerved by her own growing sense of dread about a sinister force watching her, Wednesday attempts to fulfill Violet’s final wish with the help of her new crew. While the story, which features a racially diverse cast, includes dark and scary moments, the heavy themes are buoyed by representations of strong familial support and protective, loving friendships that endure even through conflict. Wednesday displays bravery, compassion, and creativity in overcoming both life challenges and nefarious spirits.
A strongly characterized paranormal coming-of-age story that grapples with relatable issues. (Paranormal. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781665904506
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 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
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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