An energetic and hilarious mix of light sci-fi and the daily dramas of kids’ lives.
An excitable fourth grader might just hold the fate of the world in his hands.
Ten-year-old Ethan wakes up to a 39-year-old version of himself warning him that the world will be in peril if he doesn’t get up, go to school, and make sure that his substitute teacher doesn’t quit her job despite the pranks his classmates plan to play on her. If she leaves teaching behind, she will, following a suspiciously hazy chain of events, become an evil dictator who starts a war. Future Ethan wears funky fashions, talks up a storm of complicated time-travel logistics, and actually seems to like Ethan’s obnoxious sister. But Ethan listens to what his future self has to say. Under Future Ethan’s guidance, our young hero attempts to encourage his teacher to stick with the profession while also navigating a classroom spitball fight, a school-wide ziti-induced barfing incident, and a side quest that involves convincing his awkward classmate, Tamara, to take accelerated math so that she can invent time travel, which strains his relationship with his best friend. Infused with plenty of humor, Ethan’s first-person narration is chaotic, at once self-centered and thoughtful, affectionately capturing the interior life of a highly imaginative elementary schooler. In Molebash’s simple cartoon art, characters have skin the white of the page.
An energetic and hilarious mix of light sci-fi and the daily dramas of kids’ lives. (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781665964395
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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
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