A whip-smart, funny, and fast-paced outing equally suited to returning fans and readers who are just meeting Brianna for the...
Class president Brianna Justice learns that in middle school, even the best-laid plans can go awry.
Brianna hits the ground running in middle school, tasked with leading her class in raising money for the annual sixth-grade trip to Washington, D.C. But fundraising efforts get off to a rocky start, and Brianna finds it hard to relate to her suddenly body-conscious, boy-crazy best friends, Sara and Becks. Her friends have changed, and it seems like everyone in sixth grade is pretending to be something they aren’t. And Brianna fears she might be “the biggest fake of all” in her efforts to keep it all together and not freak out about raising enough money in time for the class trip. To make matters worse, a seventh-grade nemesis is determined to sabotage her fundraising efforts. Undaunted, Brianna discovers that in middle school, life doesn’t always go as planned, everything can change in an instant—including best friends—and that change can be a good thing. In this sequel to President of the Whole Fifth Grade (2010), Winston’s humorous prose captures the spirited preteen voice of an honors student with sass, quick wit, and great ideas. Readers will enjoy journal entries, text messages, and notes from Brianna’s trusty clipboard, which are interspersed throughout the narrative.
A whip-smart, funny, and fast-paced outing equally suited to returning fans and readers who are just meeting Brianna for the first time. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-37723-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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
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