An engaging and satisfying depiction of a real-life issue that affects many artistic students.
An African American middle schooler who loves to draw struggles to establish an art club at his school.
Dale Donavan loves to read comics and play video games. However, his dad’s been deployed, his mom works night shifts at the hospital, and his grandfather has moved in. Dale misses his late grandmother and their shared love of comics (something his pragmatic grandfather dismisses), and he’s less excited about helping his grandfather with his vegetable garden. At school, Dale clashes with vice principal Mr. Ruffins, who, like Grandpa, lectures the kids about financial stability. For his class project on a future career, Dale is inspired by a dream in which Grandma encourages his desire to be a comic book artist. Mr. Ruffins’ dismissive, discouraging response upsets Dale, who replies angrily and is sent to Principal Johnson’s office. The kindly principal listens to him and supports the idea of an art club—but they must find a faculty sponsor and a way to generate revenue. Despite the various obstacles, Dale and his friends persevere, proving the importance of art in their lives. This lively graphic novel incorporates colorful scenes from Dale’s favorite video game and comics into his story and will delight readers. Dale’s plight is handled realistically and will be recognizable to the target audience.
An engaging and satisfying depiction of a real-life issue that affects many artistic students. (creator’s notes and sketches) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780759556393
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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