While Jelly’s tales go on a bit too long, her skills and the story’s action-packed ending, however implausible, reward...
Angelica, nicknamed Jelly, uses her storytelling abilities to avert a crisis at the animal-rescue center where her parents serve on the board.
Jelly has known Mwezi, a lioness rescued from Tanzania, all her life, and she amazes her friend Joon with her ability to get Mwezi’s attention. When a new boy named Leopold shows up looking to write a story for his school newspaper and asks Jelly if she’s a lion trainer, Jelly can’t resist the temptation to become just that for the day. Her friend Joon believes her too, and as she uses her vast knowledge of lions for support, Jelly’s “stories” become more and more elaborate. Leopold grows skeptical as Jelly gets “swept away”; “Joon is a better audience because she believes all my stories,” Jelly tells her readers. But when Mwezi goes missing, Joon’s insistence that Jelly is handy and knows how to call Mwezi earns Jelly a spot on the search team. When they find her, Jelly’s handiness and her storytelling both help lead Mwezi back to her enclosure. Similarly imaginative chapter-book readers will connect with Jelly, and there’s no question the lion facts are cool. Full- and half-page illustrations throughout the book suggest that Jelly is mixed-race, Joon is Asian, and Leopold and other characters are white.
While Jelly’s tales go on a bit too long, her skills and the story’s action-packed ending, however implausible, reward readers who stay tuned. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1547-6
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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