A lucid and hopeful story of a troubled kid navigating troubled times.
In Milligan’s chapter book, a fourth grader with anxiety struggles to fit in at a new school when Covid-19 hits and the world is turned upside down.
The narrator and protagonist, Lucy Beacher, is in fourth grade and has suffered from severe anxiety since moving with her family from Michigan to Connecticut. Lucy’s big brother Charlie is a “yes-man” and has already befriended Alex, a popular kid (and a bully), but Lucy’s anxiety makes forging new friendships seem impossible. She’s not just terrified of being “weird”; Lucy also seems lonely, although she is close with her family. A few weeks after starting at her new school, the Covid-19 lockdown sends all the students home indefinitely. By summer break, Lucy’s family feel the restlessness of quarantine. Lucy begins to explore the neighborhood on her bike, meeting some of the residents—including lively old Cece, with her wonderful garden, and, eventually, two girls Lucy’s age who have come to stay for the summer. Confident and outgoing Bea bunks with her Granny across the lane, and cool Jade (with green tips dyed into her black hair) stays with her divorced dad and Nai Nai down the lane. Lucy begins to learn that everyone is different in their own way, and that being a good friend takes courage, especially during tumultuous times. This is a character-driven narrative, and the pace is steady and reflective. Milligan’s descriptions of anxiety are particularly honest and visceral: “‘Not now,’ I whisper to myself. ‘Please not now.’ No matter how hard I clench my fists, I feel it coming…My heart, my breath, my body, and my thoughts swirl up into a windy, whipping circle…I lose my breath.” The dialogue feels flat at times, but Lucy’s voice skillfully engenders empathy with a character who habitually eschews interpersonal connections. A whole generation of school kids disoriented by the chaos of Covid-19 and its aftermath needs stories to identify with, and Milligan’s tale ably fits the bill.
A lucid and hopeful story of a troubled kid navigating troubled times.Pub Date: May 13, 2024
ISBN: 9798869315083
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Paper House
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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
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