A fifth-grader extends the hand of friendship, and keeps it extended until a bereaved classmate is ready to take it, in this unpolished but uplifting novel. Three months after the death of his family’s housecleaner in a car accident, Sam can still hear her voice in his head; so when her son Buddy, mute and withdrawn, becomes a new classmate, he makes friendly overtures. Buddy responds by either turning a cold shoulder or slugging him in the face—and meanwhile, because Sam decides to keep quiet about Buddy’s background, suddenly he’s on the outs with his jealous best friend Alex. Sam isn’t the only one to take a beating; a tendency for insults to turn without warning into fistfights not only gets Sam, Alex, and Buddy kicked off the soccer team, but ultimately earns Alex a concussion. As Sam tracks Buddy’s gradual thaw, he also recounts a series of debates in Bar/Bat Mitzvah class over issues brought up by several Bible stories, speculates about Buddy’s lifestyle and beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness, and demonstrates such a broad streak of decency that he’s even willing to play Ken to his little sister’s Barbie on Halloween. Despite the gratuitous violence, and the likelihood that readers will wind up understanding Sam more than Buddy, since Sam and Alex have mended fences by the end and Buddy has begun to talk again, at least the future looks brighter. Earnest, but only ankle-deep. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83215-X
Page Count: 120
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
The poster boy for relentless mischief-makers everywhere, first encountered in No, David! (1998), gives his weary mother a rest by going to school. Naturally, he’s tardy, and that’s but the first in a long string of offenses—“Sit down, David! Keep your hands to yourself! PAY ATTENTION!”—that culminates in an afterschool stint. Children will, of course, recognize every line of the text and every one of David’s moves, and although he doesn’t exhibit the larger- than-life quality that made him a tall-tale anti-hero in his first appearance, his round-headed, gap-toothed enthusiasm is still endearing. For all his disruptive behavior, he shows not a trace of malice, and it’ll be easy for readers to want to encourage his further exploits. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-48087-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Wholesome shading to bland, but well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast headed by a child...
A San Diego preteen learns that she’s an elf, with a place in magic school if she moves to the elves’ hidden realm.
Having felt like an outsider since a knock on the head at age 5 left her able to read minds, Sophie is thrilled when hunky teen stranger Fitz convinces her that she’s not human at all and transports her to the land of Lumenaria, where the ageless elves live. Taken in by a loving couple who run a sanctuary for extinct and mythical animals, Sophie quickly gathers friends and rivals at Foxfire, a distinctly Hogwarts-style school. She also uncovers both clues to her mysterious origins and hints that a rash of strangely hard-to-quench wildfires back on Earth are signs of some dark scheme at work. Though Messenger introduces several characters with inner conflicts and ambiguous agendas, Sophie herself is more simply drawn as a smart, radiant newcomer who unwillingly becomes the center of attention while developing what turn out to be uncommonly powerful magical abilities—reminiscent of the younger Harry Potter, though lacking that streak of mischievousness that rescues Harry from seeming a little too perfect. The author puts her through a kidnapping and several close brushes with death before leaving her poised, amid hints of a higher destiny and still-anonymous enemies, for sequels.
Wholesome shading to bland, but well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast headed by a child who, while overly fond of screaming, rises to every challenge. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4593-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
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