A sensitive portrayal of living with multiple allergies and of growing into oneself.
Toronto sixth grader Ella suffers from food allergies and anxiety, the latter exacerbated by the severity of the former.
Ella remembers certain incidents with embarrassment—most notably an episode in kindergarten that resulted in her mother deciding to home-school her and an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts at a friend’s birthday party that necessitated a trip to the ER. Ella desperately hopes she’s starting to outgrow the allergies and, with her mother’s permission, returns to school. Now, in addition to navigating possible triggers, she needs to adjust to the rules of middle school and her changing relationships with boys. Ella is an original narrator. Her complicated emotions are often set to the music that plays in her head and are best captured in her spontaneous verses. Now she has to summon the courage to stand in front of her classmates and recite her poem “Faceless Food,” which describes her experiences. Readers with no previous knowledge of food allergies will gain insight and empathize with Ella’s struggles; those who live with allergies will feel seen. Ella’s decision to climb the stairs at the C.N. Tower for a wildlife fundraiser, while an achievement in its own right, is also symbolic of her growing ability to challenge herself and accept circumstances she can’t change. Her friends and supporters also encourage her. Ella, who was donor conceived, is white; names cue ethnic diversity among the supporting cast.
A sensitive portrayal of living with multiple allergies and of growing into oneself. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781770867475
Page Count: 232
Publisher: DCB
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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