by Lisa Graff ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2012
With two equally compelling protagonists to root for and plenty to make kids laugh, this is sure to resonate with and...
Media Club becomes “a place of battle” when the time comes to select a news anchor for the spring semester.
Fourth-grader Francine Halata has dreamt of sitting behind the news desk since the beginning of the school year, and she’ll do just about anything to get to get there. Kansas Bloom couldn’t care less, until passing it up means losing his status as “King of Dares.” And the race is on. For two weeks, members of the Media Club agree to assign Francine and Kansas each a dare a day. Each dare is worth a point, and the one with the most points at the end will win the coveted anchor seat. Though Kansas and Francine are pitted against each other in this high-stakes game at school, the competition pales in comparison to what they are both coping with at home. Through a third-person narration that alternates focus between Francine and Kansas, readers see them both struggling to come to grips with parents who are in the throes of divorce. Graff does an impressive job striking a balance between humor and heft in this middle-grade novel.
With two equally compelling protagonists to root for and plenty to make kids laugh, this is sure to resonate with and entertain young readers. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: April 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-399-25516-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
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by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023
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
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by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
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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