Good-hearted sporty fun.
A talented young soccer player leaves the recreational league for a more competitive team and discovers a different sports culture.
Ben Cutler loves playing soccer with his best friend, Jay-Jay Wright, in the Pizza League. Their team, the Anchovies, celebrate their goals with silly dances and enjoy postgame snacks, win or lose. But when Coach Cleary invites Ben to play for the West Harbor Soccer Academy, Ben finds a much more serious and less fun environment. He feels nervous before games and is surprised and confused by the “no joking around in soccer” attitude of both coach and players; charts listing the differences between West Harbor and the Pizza League are featured throughout. “Host-slash-narrator-slash-play-by-play man” Freddy introduces the Good Sports League series and pops up in graphic novel–style illustrations interspersed throughout; many readers will appreciate a break from the text, while some might find the switch between formats jarring. Freddy states the moral up front—sports should be enjoyable—and this fast-paced, heartfelt story bears out the message. The story closes out with fun activities, including an invitation for readers to create their own sporty nicknames, a sports quiz, and space for readers to write down a list of their goals in life. Ben presents white in the dynamic grayscale illustrations, while Jay-Jay is Black, and Freddy appears to be brown-skinned. Secondary characters are diverse.
Good-hearted sporty fun. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781419763656
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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