Fifth grade BFFs Katie-Rose, Yasaman, Violet and Camilla ride again in this stride-hitting second entry in the Flower Power series (Luv Ya Bunches, 2009). Once again, readers drop in on the girls during a particularly eventful, anxiety-riddled week at Rivendell Elementary: Katie-Rose struggles with her concern that sneaky Natalia might be weaseling her way into Yasaman's good graces, while Milla wrestles with her longstanding crush on adorkable Max and Violet finally visits her mother in the mental health clinic and champions the class outcast, Cyril, taking a stand against the epically odious Modessa. All of this takes place against a backdrop of youthful nutrition-related activism—Yasaman discovers that their school-selected snacks, Cheezy Nips, are full of trans fats, contain no cheese and are made by a company that engages in animal cruelty. Myracle is particularly adept at conveying the hilariously, touchingly messy inner lives of preteens, and with the first book's exposition out of the way, all the flower friends' wonderful neuroses, blunders, kindnesses and grace notes blossom into a realistic, easy-to-relate-to riot of pre-adolescent exuberance. A triumph. (Fiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8983-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
In this series debut, Maggie Sinclair tracks down a dognapper and solves a mystery about the noises in the walls of her Brooklyn brownstone apartment building. The 12-year-old heroine, who shares a middle name—Brooklyn—with her twin brother, Finn, is juggling two dogwalking jobs she’s keeping secret from her parents, and somehow she attracts the ire of the dogs’ former walker. Maggie tells her story in the first person—she’s self-possessed and likable, even when her clueless brother invites her ex–best friend, now something of an enemy, to their shared 12th birthday party. Maggie’s attention to details helps her to figure out why dogs seem to be disappearing and why there seem to be mice in the walls of her building, though astute readers will pick up on the solution to at least one mystery before Maggie solves it. There’s a brief nod to Nancy Drew, but the real tensions in this contemporary preteen story are more about friendship and boy crushes than skullduggery. Still, the setting is appealing, and Maggie is a smart and competent heroine whose personal life is just as interesting as—if not more than—her detective work. (Mystery. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 967-1-59990-525-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
Eleven-year-old Griffin Bing is “the man with the plan.” If something needs doing, Griffin carefully plans a fix and his best friend Ben usually gets roped in as assistant. When the town council ignores his plan for a skate park on the grounds of the soon-to-be demolished Rockford House, Griffin plans a camp-out in the house. While there, he discovers a rare Babe Ruth baseball card. His family’s money worries are suddenly a thing of the past, until unscrupulous collectables dealer S. Wendell Palomino swindles him. Griffin and Ben plan to snatch the card back with a little help. Pet-lover Savannah whispers the blood-thirsty Doberman. Rock-climber “Pitch” takes care of scaling the house. Budding-actor Logan distracts the nosy neighbor. Computer-expert Melissa hacks Palomino’s e-mail and the house alarm. Little goes according to plan, but everything turns out all right in this improbable but fun romp by the prolific and always entertaining Korman. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-439-90344-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2008
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