In this stand-alone sequel to Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing) (2008), the eponymous heroine pretends all is well while her fifth-grade world totters. Optimistic Julia Gillian’s convinced “there was much to be happy about at Lake Harriet Elementary [School],” especially her first trumpet lesson. But when her best pal Bonwit starts avoiding her, a quirky new lunch monitor tyrannizes the school cafeteria and she can’t “get even the tiniest sound” out of her trumpet, she wonders, where’s the joy? Determined to handle her own problems, Julia Gillian turns into “a rule breaker and a secret keeper” until this uncharacteristic behavior attracts adult attention. Temporarily off-balance, Julia Gillian realizes she’s old enough to be responsible for her actions and eventually recoups with a little help from the cast of eccentric supporting characters. Kids will relate to the sympathetic, humorous narrative as it tracks Julia Gillian’s very convincing foray into self-imposed misery. Kozjan’s energetic pencil-and-ink drawings reveal details of Julia Gillian’s troubled but ultimately victorious quest for joy. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-545-03350-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2009
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION
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A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice. India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too. A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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