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CAMPFIRE COOKIES

From the Secret Cookie Club series , Vol. 2

This sequel is lacking in “flour power.” (Fiction. 8-12)

The four members of Flowerpot Cabin reunite for another summer of friendship, romance, mystery, and cookies (The Secret Cookie Club, 2015).

Olivia, Grace, Emma, and Lucy are determined to win Top Cabin as well as rank highest in Chore Score, but when their counselor, Hannah, receives a breakup letter from her boyfriend, the girls rally to support her. They reason that what Hannah needs is a new boyfriend. And what could be better at sparking a summer romance than secret cookies? For their plan to succeed, however, they are going to need everyone’s help. Unfortunately, sometimes it is hard to talk to boys, particularly if one of those boys is the crush-worthy Vivek. The story excels in its direct approach to demographics: Olivia is African-American, the daughter of a successful barbecue-sauce magnate; Grace is biracial, white and ethnic Chinese; Emma is a white, Jewish girl from Philadelphia; Lucy is white and not so well-to-do; Vivek is second-generation Indian-American. While the characters’ interactions are age-appropriate, conflicts dissipate too quickly, robbing the scenes of energy. Rotating narrators as well as letters to and from home offer multiple insights to the tale, but rather than enriching the narrative, they feel like filler for a too-thin plot.

This sequel is lacking in “flour power.” (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: May 17, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4814-1046-5

Page Count: 282

Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016

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CHARLOTTE'S WEB

The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...

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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

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GHOSTS

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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