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PROJECT STARTUP

From the Eat Bugs series , Vol. 1

An unusual, inspiring, and intriguing story.

Young entrepreneurs develop a bug-based business model.

On a school field trip to the zoo, sixth grade vegetarian Hallie Amberose tries a spicy fried cricket and it changes her life. Hallie dives into researching bugs, learning that they’re eaten all over the world, and becomes enamored with possibilities of ending world hunger and saving the planet at the same time. When a business opportunity in the form of a school business pitch project presents itself, Hallie finds herself paired with Jaye Wu—who refuses to do a school project on bugs, let alone eat them. The story is filled with realistic conflicts typical of the middle school years that move the plot forward; Hallie struggles with loneliness while Jaye worries about fitting in. After an unexpected incident, the two forge an unlikely yet believable bond and learn to work together through bug-catching and -cooking experiments. Told through Hallie’s and Jaye’s distinctly alternating perspectives, the book acquaints readers with both headstrong girls and the motivations for their actions. The expressive illustrations peppered throughout complement the descriptive and informative text well, capturing characters’ emotions and personalities. Based on the true story of co-authors and Chirps cricket chips co-founders D’Asaro and Wang, Hallie and Jaye’s bug adventures for the greater good will entrance readers and even encourage them to try eating bugs. Hallie presents White; Jaye is Chinese American.

An unusual, inspiring, and intriguing story. (cricket cookie recipe, interview) (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-09617-8

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020

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CHARLOTTE'S WEB

The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...

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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

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THE CHRISTMAS PIG

Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone.

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A 7-year-old descends into the Land of the Lost in search of his beloved comfort object.

Jack has loved Dur Pig long enough to wear the beanbag toy into tattered shapelessness—which is why, when his angry older stepsister chucks it out the car window on Christmas Eve, he not only throws a titanic tantrum and viciously rejects the titular replacement pig, but resolves to sneak out to find DP. To his amazement, the Christmas Pig offers to guide him to the place where all lost Things go. Whiffs of childhood classics, assembled with admirable professionalism into a jolly adventure story that plays all the right chords, hang about this tale of loss and love. Along with family drama, Rowling stirs in fantasy, allegory, and generous measures of social and political commentary. Pursued by the Land’s cruel and monstrous Loser, Jack and the Christmas Pig pass through territories from the Wastes of the Unlamented, where booger-throwing Bad Habits roam, to the luxurious City of the Missed for encounters with Hope, Happiness, and Power (a choleric king who rejects a vote that doesn’t go his way). A joyful reunion on the Island of the Beloved turns poignant, but Christmas Eve being “a night for miracles and lost causes,” perhaps there’s still a chance (with a little help from Santa) for everything to come right? In both the narrative and Field’s accomplished, soft-focus illustrations, the cast presents White.

Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-338-79023-8

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021

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