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
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
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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