A funny, feel-good tale.
A K-pop-obsessed tween in London swaps bodies with her strict school principal.
Eleven-year-old Skylar Smith is obsessed with the South Korean boy band AZ8. Skylar and her environmentally conscious best friend, Dana, buy their posters and photocards, learn their dance routines, and watch their variety show. But Skylar has a run-in with Ms. Callus, the mean principal of Saint Margaret’s Academy (school motto: “Achieve or hang your head in shame”). As a fed-up Skylar argues with Ms. Callus, a weird flash of green light engulfs them both, and they wake up in one another’s bodies with no idea how to switch back. Skylar, inhabiting her 71-year-old body, enters a dance video in a contest for tickets to see an upcoming AZ8 concert—and goes viral. Capitalizing on her new reputation for being fun, she also uses her adult powers to make changes at Saint Margaret’s, although running a school is way more stressful than she expected. With Dana’s help, Skylar must find a way to fix things before she’s stuck as Ms. Callus forever. This comical, lighthearted story is an ode to K-pop fandom, but the hilarious jokes and situations will entertain readers unfamiliar with that world. As in many body-swapping stories, themes of selfishness, empathy, and gaining an appreciation for another person’s troubles feature prominently. Skylar and Ms. Callus present white; there’s ethnic diversity in the supporting cast.
A funny, feel-good tale. (Skylar’s K-pop Dictionary) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781536241129
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 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
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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