The spirited Grace is back with her gang and quite a few changes, in her fourth outing, tackling a host of issues including divorce, moving, her mother’s wedding, a new baby, a friend’s eating disorder, jealousy and bullying. Grace’s best friend, Aimee, has moved away, and newcomer Crishell has not quite settled in, feeling like an outsider at times while Grace misses the special friendship she enjoyed with Aimee. The young ruffian, Russell, is still intimidating others with his verbal taunts and Grace is worried over her loyalty to her own papa in Gambia, having confused feelings about a new baby with stepfather Vince. As in the previous installments, Hoffman folds the larger problems within a loosely written plot centered around school and home life in a multicultural community. More playwriting of traditional fairytales together with some heart-to-heart talks with Nana seem to solve, if not air out Grace’s concerns. Hoffman manages to address the serious without a heavy-handed approach to the ups-and-downs of a typical child’s daily life. A nice addition to the easily read British series. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-84507-057-7
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
Flattened once more, this time not by a falling bulletin board but a double blow to his elusive “Osteal Balance Point”—or so says family GP Dr. Dan—Stanley Lambchop gets two more chances to play the hero before popping back into shape. First he becomes a human spinnaker in a sailboat race, then he worms his way through the wreckage of a collapsed building to rescue ever-rude classmate Emma Weeks. Alluding to previous episodes, Stanley complains, “Why me? Why am I always getting flat, or invisible, or something?” Mr. Lambchop replies, “But things often happen without there seeming to be a reason, and then something else happens, and suddenly the first thing seems to have had a purpose after all.” Perhaps—even if that purpose is just to tread water, as Brown does here. Still, with its cartoon illustrations, well-leaded text and general goofiness, this retread is as likely to draw transitional readers as the perennial favorite Flat Stanley (1964) and its sequels. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-009551-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
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