Deriso explores the possibility of having dreams coming true in this light comedy, told in the first person. Twelve-year-old Elsa Alden is overjoyed to be moving with her dad to a new town to live with her maternal grandmother, but is less enthusiastic about starting a new school in the middle of seventh grade. Predictably, her first day doesn’t go well. Soon after, Elsa’s dead mother visits her and gives her a magical pendant. For one month, Elsa can rewind the world for ten seconds by saying, “Do-over. . . . Just long enough to fix an embarrassing moment. For one month only.” The pendant offers Elsa many opportunities, from stealing answers to passing on gossip. When Elsa is accused of cheating, she makes plans to give Darcy, the most popular girl in her class, her comeuppance, yet is unable to follow through with Darcy’s ultimate humiliation. Though her comments seem older than her years (the seventh-graders are reading To Kill a Mockingbird), middle-schoolers who long to be popular may find this somewhat predictable story enjoyable. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: June 13, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73333-X
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2006
The Galactic Confederation is nothing if not fair. Before they commit to annihilating the human race, they’ll send an emissary to ensure it is without redemption. Ketchvar III, a hyperintelligent snail from the planet Sandoval, is determined to find the worth of the human race by merging consciousness with the most typical specimen of humanity he can find. That specimen is Tom Filber, “Caucasian, fourteen years old, and in good health.” But perhaps Ketchvar has chosen poorly: Tom’s mother is a violent, shrewish woman, his father is an unemployed alcoholic and his classmates—though ignorant of Ketchvar—all refer to Tom as “Alien.” Are humans truly vile, or has Ketchvar chosen a particularly dysfunctional family to analyze? Not surprisingly, Ketchvar’s study of humanity becomes a life lesson for Ketchvar himself, as he tries to fix some of the problems in Tom’s family and town. Despite hackneyed gender stereotypes and a cast of stock characters, the painful humor (or perhaps the humorous pain) of Ketchvar’s adventure will win fans. (Science fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 16, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-374-39951-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
Junior Philip Marlowes or Sam Spades—or readers fed up with schoolyard miscreants—will welcome the exploits of this hard-boiled, seen-it-all seventh-grade “hall cop.” Punctuated by recorded interviews with a startled guidance counselor, incident reports filed by his indefatigable, true-blue partner and occasional diary entries and articles written by the school’s gung-ho newspaper editor, the novel tracks how a disgraced Griff (he’s stripped of his badge at one point) and his friends eventually uncover a counterfeit hall-pass ring and bring down some nefarious perps. Griff’s devotion to duty is so uncompromising it’s comical, though not always credible. The first-person voice isn’t consistent, and some of Griff’s potboiler reflections will fall on ears unprimed to noir-ish ’40s-era detective patter. Still, this is a fast-paced read characterized by knowing, kid-friendly humor, and middle-grade readers will enjoy getting to know Hallway Patrolman Carver. (Mystery. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 29, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59514-276-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2010
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