by Susan Bartlett & illustrated by Tricia Tusa ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002
School is starting again on tiny Seal Island, and all the children are excited about their new classmates: Clara and Sophie Hall. Picking up the story from Seal Island School (1999), the addition of two new students to their cozy one-room school changes the social fabric in ways the children had not anticipated. Nicholas, who has been best friends with Prudence for a year, is getting older and appears to be a tad smitten with Clara. Prudence feels strange about this unexpected development, and doesn’t quite know what to do. In addition to the school adjustments, a controversy is brewing. The children’s fairy houses are being destroyed. Building fairy houses in the woods has been a hobby of island children for many generations, and the children are upset. The seven children try a little youthful espionage, but are still surprised at the culprit: one of their environmentally minded mothers is knocking down their houses. An island meeting is called, accusations fly, and the children come up with the solution that everyone can be happy with. Tusa’s jolly black-and-white illustrations, with her round-faced island children, bring this sweet story to life. Bartlett celebrates island life without romanticizing it. What child wouldn’t want to be free to walk anywhere in his community, dress up a pony with a sign, cavort in the woods, meet the ferry every day, and attend school with every one of his friends and the sensible, lovable Miss Sparling? A treasure for new readers. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-670-03533-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
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More by Susan Bartlett
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by Susan Bartlett & illustrated by Luanne Wrenn
BOOK REVIEW
by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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More by Suzy Kline
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Sami Sweeten
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
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