Original and encouraging, but inconsistently executed.
Bee who you’re meant to bee.
Derrick Chan, a Chinese American basketball player, is stuck spending the summer after seventh grade with his paternal grandmother in Heritage, Georgia (“the most boring place on earth”), after financial problems prevent him from attending basketball camp while his widowed father is out of town working. There Derrick befriends goth roller skater Ro and photographer Giles. He also discovers a talent for fashion and later becomes a stand-in for an absent contestant at Tybee County’s Queen Bee Junior Pageant, thanks to Grandma Claudia’s connections to the event and his ability to quickly pick up the dance routines. Derrick’s time with Grandma Claudia opens new doors that allow him to explore his sexuality, discovering unexpected feelings for his best friend and fellow b-ball player, JJ. The book tackles a lot of issues from sexuality to race (Giles is cued Black; Derrick feels isolated in his largely white environment), and while the messaging is positive, the uneven pacing undermines the connections readers should make with Derrick. In its slow moments, the plot meanders around a mysterious rift between Grandma Claudia and Derrick’s father while speeding through both Derrick’s budding friendship with Ro and Giles and his coming out. This debut by Chu, a founder of Drag Story Hour who performs as Panda Dulce, will satisfy readers looking for a light, feel-good story. Readers seeking substance may be frustrated by the two-dimensional characters and saccharine resolutions.
Original and encouraging, but inconsistently executed. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063326958
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
