While readers can celebrate Mallory’s widening outlook on the world, they may yearn for a little less vanilla-flavored syrup
After the disappointment of taking on too much for Halloween, Mallory decides she needs to be more philanthropic for the next holiday in this 28th and final tale.
Planning to spend part of Halloween evening at a party and part trick-or-treating fails completely, leaving very earnest fifth-grader Mallory frustrated. She needs to do better for Thanksgiving. With guidance from her mom, Mallory decides a food-drive competition among the grades at her school would be perfect. Her friend Joey offers to help when his stepsister, Mary Ann, turns Mallory down. That gives Mallory room to smugly reflect on the girls’ gradual separation and Mary Ann’s unfortunate self-focus. With the school administration agreeing to the plan, Mallory and Joey launch their drive but immediately run into unexpected (but very believable) issues. As cans accumulate and then get mixed up, it becomes impossible to figure out which grade won the prize of a homework-free week. Some classmates blame Joey and Mallory—selfishly missing completely the good they’ve done. Nearly all the classmates depicted in Kalis’ simple, boldly outlined illustrations are white like Mallory, Joey, and Mary Ann, but their teacher is black, and the food-bank representative is Asian. This mild, predictable, ever-so-sincere tale, the last in the long-running series, features a feel-good conclusion with a heavy-handed message.
While readers can celebrate Mallory’s widening outlook on the world, they may yearn for a little less vanilla-flavored syrup . (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4677-5032-5
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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