Personal growth plus the comedy of sundry humiliating situations created to avoid embarrassment: satisfying.
It can’t be that difficult to sabotage your own bat mitzvah.
Ellie’s shy, quiet, and afraid of interacting with almost everyone but her family and her only friend, Zoe. At older sister Hannah’s bat mitzvah, Ellie had such a panic attack about appearing before strangers that she thought she was dying. Now she’ll do anything to prevent her own bat mitzvah from happening—anything, that is, except tell her parents. Ellie (white and Jewish) harangues Zoe (black and Christian) into a series of increasingly goofball attempts to stealthily deep-six the bat mitzvah. From hiding the invitations to faking her own death, Ellie’s shenanigans result in cringe comedy that (despite the embarrassment of the situations she creates) is always respectful of her devastating anxiety. The light touch leads to some too-easy solutions, with Ellie, at 12, effectively self-inventing cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorder before anyone else even knows she has a condition. Ellie’s concern with her own mental health finds her selfishly ignoring Zoe’s well-being, and working through the complications created by her unthinking cruelty requires getting through more anxiety spirals about damaged friendships. Humor keeps the tone light, nevertheless, perhaps never more so than in a massive and squishy food fight at a classmate’s bar mitzvah.
Personal growth plus the comedy of sundry humiliating situations created to avoid embarrassment: satisfying. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-62120-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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
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