A winsome series lead effortlessly carries this breezy tale.
Pollack’s middle-grade novel, one in a series, continues the adventures of a charming New Jersey fourth grader.
Jillian “Jelly Bean” Kramer has already had a lot on her plate this school year, but with Thanksgiving just around the corner, things aren’t looking so bad—she’s scored in the best-friend department, palling around with the ever confident Britney. On the other hand, there’s tension at home: Michael, the oldest of her three older brothers, has become increasingly distant from his family and, against their parents’ wishes, he doesn’t want to go to college. Even more pressing (for Jelly Bean) is the fact that her mom won’t let her stay at Britney’s house—her mom’s chief reason being that Britney’s divorced convict father might show up. Jelly Bean tries her hardest to convince her mom, or whoever will listen, that she’ll be perfectly fine at her best friend’s place. Comfortingly, some things don’t ever seem to change: Her dog, Roger-Over, is her most reliable source of comfort, her brother Sam is perpetually “awesome,” and Joel, the youngest brother, is always ready to instigate a trivial argument. Change, however, is inevitable: Michael makes an unexpected decision about his future, and Jelly Bean’s grandparents, after a medical emergency, may have to move somewhere far away from New Jersey. “Well, life goes on,” her dad says. That’s certainly true, and Jelly Bean has some life decisions of her own to make, like whether or not she wants to remain committed to gymnastics. She knows she’ll stop by Britney’s home just as soon as her mother gives her permission—or maybe before.
As in the first installment of Pollack’s series (The Adventures of Jelly Bean, 2022), Jelly Bean is a delight. She’s naturally empathetic: She warms up to the new girl in school because she knows how mean some other girls can be, and she almost instantly regrets yelling at her mother in frustration. She’s a believable young girl who often rolls with the punches, even when it appears her “world is coming apart.” Still, she can’t help but react to Joel’s never-ending ridicule; if they’re in the same room together, a fight is practically guaranteed. Pesky siblings aren’t all readers will relate to—topical subplots follow a fellow student’s eating disorder, a family tragedy, and Britney living with her family in “the worst part of town” (the real reason, Jelly Bean speculates, that she’s not allowed to visit her friend). The book has plenty of feel-good moments as well—Roger-Over enlivens every scene he’s in, sometimes merely with the sounds of a dog getting more comfortable while resting. Britney is an invaluable confidence-booster and consistently proves herself to be a great friend. Pollack’s bright, unadorned prose lends itself to this fourth grader’s perspective; everyday life for Jelly Bean is overflowing with smaller adventures that she braves at school, family outings, or sometimes without even leaving her house. Considering that the first two series installments barely cover a year of Jelly Bean’s life, further sequels featuring this likable hero are a strong and welcome possibility.
A winsome series lead effortlessly carries this breezy tale.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2022
ISBN: 9781649793751
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Austin Macauley
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid.
Black sixth-grader Jake Liston can only play one song on the piano. He can’t read music very well, and he can’t improvise. So how did Jake get accepted to the Music and Art Academy? He faked it.
Alongside an eclectic group of academy classmates, and with advice from his best friend, Jake tries to fit in at a school where things like garbage sculpting and writing art reviews of bird poop splatter are the norm. All is well until Jake discovers that the end-of-the-semester talent show is only two weeks away, and Jake is short one very important thing…talent. Or is he? It’s up to Jake to either find the talent that lies within or embarrass himself in front of the entire school. Light and humorous, with Knight’s illustrations adding to the fun, Jake’s story will likely appeal to many middle-grade readers, especially those who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. While the artsy antics may be over-the-top at times, this is a story about something that most preteens can relate to: the struggle to find your authentic self. And in a world filled with books about wanting to fit in with the athletically gifted supercliques, this novel unabashedly celebrates the artsy crowd in all of its quirky, creative glory.
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-52351-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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