Heartwarming and empowering.
A young scientist in the Seattle area designs an experiment to prove she’s just as mature as her friends.
Kylie Stanton, who’s Black, has always been different from her best friends as a budding scientist, a karate brown belt—and an unintentional crybaby. Black and Filipino Naomi, Indian American Nikila, and white Mara never used to mind Kylie’s sensitive nature, but everything’s changing as they prepare for middle school. Kylie worries they’ll decide she’s “too babyish to hang out with.” Desperate to keep her friends, Kylie designs an experiment for the summer before seventh grade to prove she’s mature by not crying and doing everything her friends do. It seems like a foolproof plan, until she finds herself agreeing to things she doesn’t want to do and giving up things she does. She’s further confused by Naomi, who’s been lying, keeping secrets, and being uncharacteristically mean and moody. Is that what it means to be mature? Is that really who she wants to be? Kylie is an endearing, relatable protagonist readers will root for. She wrestles with moral conundrums and situations that cause confusing emotions in ways that are never didactic; this balance keeps readers interested while encouraging them to think independently. Kylie’s incremental growth is realistic and well developed, leading to a satisfying conclusion. The strong representation of a loving Black family and the accessible demonstration of the scientific method in action are added bonuses.
Heartwarming and empowering. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780063039476
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
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
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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