Gentle, inventive, and delightfully magical.
In this latest series installment, the magical bracelet finds its way to Lucy Usathorn.
Ten-year-old Lucy’s parents have been divorced since she was 3, and Lucy splits her time between her parents. She’s looking forward to her field trip to the Fort Worth Natural History Museum, where her dad works. But the day quickly turns sour. Strict Ms. Brock, the school librarian and her dad’s girlfriend, is chaperoning the trip, a classmate vomits on Lucy’s new sneakers, and Lucy’s pushiness alienates her best friend, Olive. Just when things can’t get any worse, Lucy’s father proposes to Ms. Brock, and Lucy runs off crying. At her mother’s house, Lucy discovers a strange package containing a bracelet. She connects via text with the bracelet’s previous owners (series fans will be familiar with their stories), who explain that this is no ordinary piece of jewelry but warn her to be careful what she wishes for. Lucy decides to use the bracelet to redo her terrible day...and prevent the proposal. Told in the form of a letter from Lucy to an unseen girl named Maya (the bracelet's next recipient), this is a lighthearted yet poignant tale. Once again, the fantastical premise is used to wonderful effect—as Lucy relives her day, she eventually learns a much-needed lesson. Lucy and her father are Thai, while Ms. Brock appears to be light-skinned in Vee’s artwork.
Gentle, inventive, and delightfully magical. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781338628319
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
BOOK TO SCREEN
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
Wholesome? Yes. Proper hard work and teamwork values in place? Yes. Paint by numbers? Oh, yes.
Olympic gold medalist Morgan runs down the celebrity-sports-fiction checklist in this series opener: New school? Check. New friends? Check. New boyfriend? Maybe! New soccer team? Check. Inspire said team to take on snooty archrival private school? Check.
Quickly shedding perfunctory initial reservations, Devin sails into seventh grade at Kentville Middle School, makes instant connections in class and at Kangaroos soccer tryouts. She meets requisite bully Mirabelle at the latter, then goes on to be elected team co-captain. After a disastrous start to the season, she helps her team’s members and even the less-than-rigorous coach land on the same winning page. Following a sleepover, a dance, team-building drills and exercises, pep rallies, minor problem-solving and motivational strategizing, Devin prods the Kangaroos into position to beat the haughty Pinewood Panthers in a climactic rematch while also schooling Mirabelle, who has jumped ship to join the rival team.
Wholesome? Yes. Proper hard work and teamwork values in place? Yes. Paint by numbers? Oh, yes. (soccer glossary) (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4424-8570-9
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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