by Phil Bildner ; illustrated by Tim Probert ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2015
A school story with heart.
Fifth grade is, as the title indicates, a whole new ballgame for best friends Rip and Red.
Mason Irving is called Rip by everyone but his best friend, Blake Daniels, nicknamed Red. Rip is “the black kid with the hair who lives and breathes basketball.” Red is the kid on the autistic spectrum who can’t really play basketball, except that he’s a phenomenal free-throw shooter. The duo is part of a class at Reese Jones Elementary, where students are known by simplistic tags—the kid in the wheelchair, the kid who gets to wear a hat, “the kid who still drools.” Rip knows that’s how people see them, but he also knows “that’s not who we are,” and after a year with Mr. Acevedo, “the man with the piercings and tattoos,” the class transcends differences and labels and becomes a community of friends. Unlike many school stories for this age, Bildner’s is gentle, inspiring, and full of affection for children, born of his own years as a teacher. If the students are inspiring, so is Mr. Acevedo, who risks his job to do such radical things as reading aloud and encouraging free reading. (He’s supposed to be preparing the kids to take tests!) Probert’s cartoony illustrations lend energy and personality to the likable cast of characters.
A school story with heart. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-374-30130-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1952
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
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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
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SEEN & HEARD
by Kate DiCamillo ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2000
A real gem.
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Newbery Honor Book
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
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