A smart, endearing story about two girls who are blending families, growing up, and building a friendship.
Two girls named Naomi build an unlikely friendship after their parents begin dating each other.
Ten-year-olds Naomi Marie and Naomi Edith don’t seem to have much in common besides their names. Naomi Marie is black, active in extracurriculars, and a big sister to 4-year-old Brianna. Naomi Edith is white, more of a homebody, and an only child. Naomi Marie’s divorced parents live near each other. Naomi Edith is also co-parented, but she lives with her dad while her mom works temporarily across the country in California. When Naomi Edith’s dad and Naomi Marie’s mom take their dating relationship to the next level and introduce their daughters, both Naomis are overwhelmed. They chafe at their parents’ signing them up for a weekly video game–coding class for girls. Forced to spend time together—and to work together to design a game—the Naomis must face their differences and the changes happening in their families. The Naomis narrate their shared story in alternating chapters written by the book’s co-authors. The girls are funny and introspective, and their middle-class lives are rich with culture, creativity, and simple pleasures—day trips to the beach, bakery treats, imaginative games. Rhuday-Perkovich and Vernick offer young readers and their parents realistic, thoughtful insights into the emotional terrain of post-divorce family life and co-parenting.
A smart, endearing story about two girls who are blending families, growing up, and building a friendship. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-241425-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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
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
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