A fun, smart choice examining middle-grade male friendships.
Will a girl break up a long-standing friendship?
In this middle-grade graphic offering, Andrew Fineman and Russ Kahng are best friends who happily work on their movie and investigate the local lore of the Jersey Devil. Suddenly their twosome seems in jeopardy when Russ begins dating blue-haired violinist Tara Wallbuck and spending less time with Andrew. Clearly angry and resentful of Tara’s infiltration of their friendship, Andrew’s disdain is visibly growing. Before long, Russ has ditched Andrew to make his own Jersey Devil movie with Tara. When Miss Robbins, the local librarian and resident Jersey Devil expert, offers to take the group camping to substantiate rumored sightings, the boys’ festering animosity comes to an explosive head. A dash of magical realism bonds the group, ending this on a lighter, hopeful note. Tatulli’s engaging artwork fixes its lens squarely on the characters, colorists Caravan Studios many times opting for nondescript pastel backdrops for greater focus on facial expressions. Middle-grade fare about navigating changing friendships is nothing new, and while this covers well-trod ground, it is refreshing to see it explore both the perspectives and feelings of boys with a good balance of humor and pathos. The cast encompasses a range of skin tones but does not specify particulars; main character Andrew presents white, Russ has Asian features and olive skin, Tara has light-brown skin, and Miss Robbins presents black.
A fun, smart choice examining middle-grade male friendships. (Graphic fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-44054-7
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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