Introduces a charming cast of characters whom readers will be eager to see more of.
A headstrong gumshoe takes on her spookiest case yet.
Danica dela Torre, the “youngest sleuth” in the small Canadian town of Renley Crow, worries that her new neighbor and all-around smart kid Kennedy Fang might take all the good cases away from the Unofficial Official Renley Crow Detective Club, the business she began with her best friend, Jack Harrow. Instead, Kennedy enlists their services to determine whether his house is haunted after a crow delivers strange, floating letters, each with cryptic messages addressed to all three kids. Forbidden from meddling with “the Other Side” by her Tita Mary, Dani nevertheless follows the clues to identify the spirit behind the letters, working alongside trusty Jack and secretive Kennedy even as the ghostly phenomena increase in intensity. As the sleuths navigate working together, the letters prod them into confronting uncomfortable truths. Centered on a Filipino protagonist, Lucido’s series opener is at its best when exploring Dani’s familial complications, including her relationship with her increasingly absent parents. Though the supernatural mystery is initially intriguingly spooky and quite compelling, things peter out somewhat. Still, Dani and her friends possess a delightful, often humorous dynamic, bolstered by Cacao’s fine illustrations; the book lays a strong foundation for future installments. Kennedy is cued Asian, while Jack presents white in the artwork.
Introduces a charming cast of characters whom readers will be eager to see more of. (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781773218960
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 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
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone.
A 7-year-old descends into the Land of the Lost in search of his beloved comfort object.
Jack has loved Dur Pig long enough to wear the beanbag toy into tattered shapelessness—which is why, when his angry older stepsister chucks it out the car window on Christmas Eve, he not only throws a titanic tantrum and viciously rejects the titular replacement pig, but resolves to sneak out to find DP. To his amazement, the Christmas Pig offers to guide him to the place where all lost Things go. Whiffs of childhood classics, assembled with admirable professionalism into a jolly adventure story that plays all the right chords, hang about this tale of loss and love. Along with family drama, Rowling stirs in fantasy, allegory, and generous measures of social and political commentary. Pursued by the Land’s cruel and monstrous Loser, Jack and the Christmas Pig pass through territories from the Wastes of the Unlamented, where booger-throwing Bad Habits roam, to the luxurious City of the Missed for encounters with Hope, Happiness, and Power (a choleric king who rejects a vote that doesn’t go his way). A joyful reunion on the Island of the Beloved turns poignant, but Christmas Eve being “a night for miracles and lost causes,” perhaps there’s still a chance (with a little help from Santa) for everything to come right? In both the narrative and Field’s accomplished, soft-focus illustrations, the cast presents White.
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-79023-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
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