Of greatest interest to kids who love stories set in the outdoors and Indigenous histories.
When Jules’ mother moves them to Wekweètì in far northern Canada for a job as the community administrator, she is only 5. Six years later, they are still living among the Tłı̨chǫ people, and while Jules, who is White, still occasionally feels like a cultural outsider, she has started to think of them as family. When her friend Layla’s grandparents invite her on a long and politically significant canoe trip, she is frightened. But her mother, knowing how sad she is about the death of the beloved Tłı̨chǫ elder Jules called Uncle Joe, insists that she go. Along the way she will witness her tribal friends in their Christian-Indigenous practices, their pride in their history, and their knowledge of the outdoors. She will gather wood, camp, portage, and paddle her way to deeper maturity and an understanding of the land, feeling the spirit of the ancestors draw her closer to nature and the meaning of the trip. Based on the 2005 signing of the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement, an event that was witnessed by the author, the book was written with tribal approval. (Like Jules’ mom, the author is not Tłı̨chǫ but worked for and lived with the band for some years.) It reads like a sincere effort to record their victory for the right to self-govern. The black-and-white illustrations by Beaverho (Tłı̨chǫ Dene) capture the river and forest well, but the human faces feel a bit cartoonish.
Of greatest interest to kids who love stories set in the outdoors and Indigenous histories. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77203-317-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Wandering Fox
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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