An emotionally intelligent work that explores socially relevant themes.
For a seventh grade chess champion, does success take away from her love for the game?
May Li’s middle school chess team performed well at the California state championship and has earned a berth at Nationals. May, who’s Chinese American, even received a trophy for being the top female player! But her success sours her friendship with teammate Ralph Morris, her main competition for team captain. Ralph goes so far as to belittle her accomplishments because she’s a girl. As Nationals approach, May feels pressured to perform, which erodes her confidence and causes strife with everyone around her. Zhao captures the anxiety of a tween who’s juggling the expectations of adults, adoring new fans, and friends-turned-rivals. Fortunately, an unexpected friendship with popular soccer goalie Mario Cruz allows May to share her struggles with the pressure of success; their conversations also demonstrate surprising commonalities between soccer and chess. The chapter titles (for example, “Battery” and “Sacrifice”) are drawn from chess terminology and briefly defined, teaching readers about the game while reflecting the story’s progression. The supporting characters, both adults and peers, are well developed, and the chess games are thrilling. In her middle-grade debut, former competitive chess player Zhao explores gender bias as well as performance stress, and the book’s valuable life lessons will speak to anyone who’s lost their love for a pursuit.
An emotionally intelligent work that explores socially relevant themes. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9780593615867
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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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