An appealing ghost story with a high-spirited cast of characters.
A ragtag group fights to save a historically significant and decidedly haunted hotel in Gorder’s debut middle-grade novel.
Junior high school history teacher Ryan Kelly has long championed the Elk Grove Hotel; it’s a valuable piece of history, giving the California city of Elk Grove its name. But some residents of the city want it torn down to make room for a golf course. No one, it seems, wants the hotel gone more than Mayor Matt Fox. Decades ago, when they were 11 years old, he and Ryan snuck inside the hotel and encountered two ghosts who pleaded for the boys’ help to protect their home. The experience inspired Ryan to ensure no harm comes to the old building, but it completely unnerved young Matt. In the present day, Ryan’s students Amelia, Zoey, TJ, and Sophia explore the hotel. They surmise that Big Bob Thornton, a prospector killed at the hotel in the mid-19th century, had hidden gold nuggets there. The kids believe that if they can unearth these treasures, using clues Bob left behind for his fiancee, maybe they can save the hotel. The author’s prospective series launch is a short, diverting mystery with a well-developed, entertaining cast of junior high school students. The kids supply much of the family-friendly humor, from goofy insults (“ ‘I don’t recall anything scaring us,’ TJ lied. ‘Just your ugly face in my selfie!’ Sophia replied, holding her phone out to him”) to a couple of prank-loving pals with a misguided resolve to build a skate park instead of the golf course. Peterson’s black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations sublimely depict the hotel and characters, some of whom, such as Elk Grove Hotel founder James Hall, Gorder based on actual people. The novel ends on a minor cliffhanger ready for a sequel to address.
An appealing ghost story with a high-spirited cast of characters.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781954779730
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Emerald Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale.
Actor, social media star, and entrepreneur Brown pens a joyful paean to positive thinking in her children’s debut.
Brown-skinned Tab rides a strawberry-themed bike, accompanied by a curly-haired black dog, Grady. Tab’s dazzling smile and wide eyes signal the upbeat theme echoed in the text, celebrating the sun’s warmth, which “fills everyone up with joy.” But Tab’s mood shifts, as it’s a “cloudy and gray” June day. Alert readers will spot the dog’s smiling countenance and note glimpses of sunny yellow butterflies and flowers. Mama’s reassurance that there’s “always a chance” for sunshine also underscores the optimism. Tab and Grady bike through suburban streets “to find the sun.” Along the way, the two stop to assist a neighbor building a birdhouse, loft a kite for friends Frankie and Fonte, and lend a hand to others, all while still having fun. Mama steers Tab toward an eventual understanding of the real source of joy: Though the sun didn’t appear, “I brightened everyone’s day!” The illustrations subtly underscore the message of this radiant story as touches of gold lighten the palette, which ends with sunny brilliance. Most characters read Black, though Tab’s community includes people who vary in skin tone, body type, and ability.
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063342262
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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