A spooky cautionary tale about the toll of unhealthy relationships and an ode to the power of true friendship.
Sadie Rivera can’t recall a time when she wasn’t haunted by the jealous ghost who threatens those she loves.
In the wake of the sudden death of Anna, her best—and only—friend in Arizona, Sadie is reluctant to forge new relationships, fearing that the ghost will hurt them like she did Anna. Raised by her pale-skinned single dad after her Mexican mom left the family, Sadie feels like she lives “in a different world than any other seventh grader,” and she withdraws “into her cloud of fog and numbness” to cope with her loneliness. That is, until she meets Charlotte and Mal, two polar-opposite girls at her new school in Idaho who both take an interest in befriending her. Strangely, the ghost doesn’t make an appearance; Mal, however, makes it clear that being her best friend means being her only friend. She isolates Sadie from Charlotte while taking advantage of her guilt and grief to push her to do things she’s uncomfortable with, such as executing cruel pranks that escalate. Mejia deftly navigates the pitfalls, pressures, and pleasures of girlhood during the middle school years. Sadie deals with tough issues faced by many young people, including grief, parental abandonment, self-esteem struggles, and toxic friendships, using horror elements as metaphors for anxiety and depression.
A spooky cautionary tale about the toll of unhealthy relationships and an ode to the power of true friendship. (Paranormal. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593647035
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 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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