A seaworthy series starter helmed by a resolute young protagonist.
With mixed emotions, Caitlin Cruz boards the Wandering Princess for a weeklong cruise.
Ever since her parents’ amicable divorce, Caitlin and her older brother, Dylan, have shuttled between Dad’s condo near Orlando and Mom’s seaside cottage. Dad was recently hired as a doctor on a cruise ship, and he invites the kids along to spend a week on the ship. Caitlin’s initially perturbed at the prospect of more change, but she’s cheered when Dad says she can bring her bearded dragon, Peaches. She and Dylan soon meet twins Max and Olivia Leone, the chef’s grandchildren, who show them the ropes. Caitlin quickly becomes overwhelmed, and after Max dubs her and Dylan “newbies,” she feels pressured to prove she truly belongs. After the kids have a few run-ins with guests on the cruise, Caitlin frets even more, and when a crisis arises, she attempts to run away. Eschmann maintains a lively tone as the youngster becomes more confident with help from an unexpected new friend. Caitlin’s a creative, inspired protagonist whose relatable anxieties play out against a fun backdrop; readers will especially enjoy excerpts from her What If? journal, where she poses quirky questions and speculates about those she meets. Some may look askance at the fact that Max’s baldness becomes a mystery that Caitlin attempts to solve, and a few plot points strain credulity. Caitlin and her family are brown-skinned and cued Latine; other characters’ ethnicities aren’t specified.
A seaworthy series starter helmed by a resolute young protagonist. (Chapter book. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781339018157
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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