A relatable, high-energy journey through grief and magic.
Lola Reyes has plenty to worry about.
The Guatemalan American fifth grader is processing her dad’s sudden death, her mom’s overly controlled grief, and changing friendships. When she and her cousin find a box of worry dolls at Abuela Gloria’s house in Guatemala labeled “Do Not Open” in her dad’s handwriting, she sneaks them into her suitcase, hoping to keep a piece of Pop with her. Ignoring his warning note about an ancient Mayan curse, Lola soon faces more than she bargained for when the dolls come to life. The six dolls soak up worries from nearby humans, grow larger, and escape, causing mischief. Lola and annoying neighbor Chance Townsend, who’s cued white, team up to find the dolls within six days—before they release the magnified worries, with grim consequences. Lola doesn’t feel as though she can burden her grieving mother by asking for help with this problem, and she’s hurt that her best friend has become closer to one of their classmates over the summer. Lola is overwhelmed and must find a way to reverse the curse before it’s too late. Rodriguez seamlessly marries supernatural adventures with realistic, universal themes of grief and human connection. This dynamic, creative story highlights themes of loss, vulnerability, and the power of asking for help. The multifaceted characters remind readers that people often struggle with hidden complexities—a poignant message for middle graders.
A relatable, high-energy journey through grief and magic. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9780063276819
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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
Poignant and heartwarming.
Zephyrina the cat, the “Robin Hood of felines,” rescues discarded toys so they can have new lives.
Zephyrina brings toys back to the apartment she shares with Elizaveta and her daughter, Dasha, refugees from war-torn Ukraine. Dasha reconditions Zephyrina’s rescues and sets them outside for three days, just in case they have owners who want to reclaim them. Afterward, they join the other toys in the parlor—the Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured. Dasha and Elizaveta don’t know that the toys are sentient. At midnight they abandon their rigid daytime postures to cavort and play, overseen by their leader, Pocket, a tiny mascot bear made to comfort soldiers during World War I. One night, Zephyrina brings back a dirty old bear, and Pocket is astounded. The new arrival, Berwon, might come from a lost shipment of the first-ever stuffed bears, sent from Germany to the U.S. in 1903—and if so, he’s worth a fortune. In the ensuing antics, the unpleasant villain Picky Vicky covets Berwon, and a kind museum curator does, too, but for different reasons. Applegate’s writing is exquisitely nuanced; she couches profound themes in accessible language that depicts relatable situations. Gentle, generous Elizaveta and Dasha poignantly underscore the human impact of wars. Santoso’s enchanting, delicate, black-and-white illustrations bring the timeless feeling of a classic to this hopeful, humanizing story of the distressed looking out for each other.
Poignant and heartwarming. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781250904362
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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