A warm and engaging tale.
There’s more than meets the eye to the cuddly stuffy nestled upon your bed.
Young Clark has always had an army of stuffed animals in his room. The fluffy creatures are his favorite toys, and Clark arranges them in a special formation every night before bed. Some of Clark’s classmates have begun to pick on him because of this, and his mother has begun to hint that maybe he’s too old for them. But Clark’s gut tells him that his stuffed friends are very important, and it soon turns out that Clark is right. A menacing monster in the form of an oily shadow stalks the night, and stuffed animals loved by children are what keep the monster at bay. When Clark’s mom banishes stuffed animals from the house, all that stands between the monster and Clark’s family is a Grandma-made sock animal, Foon. The author twists plenty of originality from the old kid-afraid-of-the-dark chestnut, and the tension between Clark and his mom is well drawn. Clark (presumably white, like his family) has a soft, indoor-kid vibe to him that is refreshing in a middle-grade landscape teeming with kids who overflow with attitude. Chapters written from Foon’s perspective bring a healthy dose of weirdness to the book, neatly developing a character that has been alive just a few hours but is determined to do what needs to be done.
A warm and engaging tale. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-03701-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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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