A stellar collection that, in celebrating heroes, helps readers find the universal in the specific.
An intentionally diverse collection of stories about “everyday heroes” that kids come across in their daily lives, people who are heroic in ways that don’t involve “special powers.”
In Juana Medina’s “Los Abuelos, Two Bright Minds,” young Juani spends the day with her grandparents, who inspire her with their loving connection and tales of immigrating from Bogotá, Colombia, to the United States. Stevie, the young hero of the story “Thrown,” by Mike Jung, is autistic and has just been promoted to the teens-and-adults aikido class; the special treat of this change is that his new sensei is also autistic. In “Home,” Hena Khan’s protagonist, Aleena, gets a new adopted brother, Hakeem, whom she and her parents pick up from an orphanage in Morocco. Soon the realities of a new little brother show her how annoying a younger sibling can be, but it’s Aleena who teaches Hakeem the true meaning of home. Compiled by Rhuday-Perkovich in partnership with We Need Diverse Books, the collection offers a vivid and vibrant assemblage of authors, experiences, and constructions of heroism. Other contributors include Lamar Giles, Ellen Oh, Joseph Bruchac, Cynthia Leitich Smith, R.J. Palacio, William Alexander, Rita Williams-Garcia, Ronald L. Smith, Linda Sue Park and her daughter, Anna Dobbin, and Suma Subramaniam.
A stellar collection that, in celebrating heroes, helps readers find the universal in the specific. (Short stories. 8-12)Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-64630-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
PROFILES
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 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
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