Small dimensions and an appealing jacket depicting four kids in a treehouse bespeak a popular series book (and this is the first of four); readers drawn by these features won't be disappointed in this accessible story of a family moving from Australia, where they've always lived, to their rolling stone of a father's New Zealand birthplace. Dad's large extended family greets them with a party, during which ten-year-old Pete's newly met same-age cousins—led by Tracey, known as a "bad case"- -devise a scary initiation: he's to spend the night in the family graveyard. With some trepidation, Pete not only meets the challenge but is enriched by it ("Looking up...from between the tombstones, he had taken infinity by surprise. Now it made new, enormous, unending sense...this time he felt [the stars] had altered him forever")—just one of the Mahy touches that make this story special. Their older cousins give the perpetrators a taste of the fright they've tried to inflict, then good-humoredly get everyone inside without loss of face or retribution. Each deftly sketched character (and there are enough so that the genealogy provided is welcome) has the aura of a fully realized personality; they're the kind of new friends who grow ever more interesting—a boisterous, good-natured clan with traditional family songs and a delightful habit of making up new rhymes on the spot. A swell introduction to Mahy. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: June 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-385-31015-3
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1993
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet!
Ryan Hart is navigating the fourth grade and all its challenges with determination.
Her mom named her Ryan because it means “king,” and she wanted Ryan to feel powerful every time she heard her name; Ryan knows it means she is a leader. So when changes occur or disaster strikes, budding chef Ryan does her best to find the positive and “make sunshine.” When her dad is laid off from the post office, the family must make adjustments that include moving into a smaller house, selling their car, and changing how they shop for groceries. But Ryan gets to stay at Vernon Elementary, and her mom still finds a way to get her the ingredients she needs to practice new recipes. Her older brother, Ray, can be bossy, but he finds little ways to support her, especially when she is down—as does the whole family. Each episodic chapter confronts Ryan with a situation; intermittently funny, frustrating, and touching, they should be familiar and accessible to readers, as when Ryan fumbles her Easter speech despite careful practice. Ryan, her family, and friends are Black, and Watson continues to bring visibility to both Portland, Oregon, generally and its Black community specifically, making another wonderful contribution that allows Black readers to see themselves and all readers to find a character they can love.
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet! (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0056-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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