An engaging tale for the latest generation of Clements fans.
Clements’ last book, a posthumously published sequel to his beloved Frindle (1996).
Sixth grader Josh Willett loves all things to do with computers—coding, creating, even doing his homework on his school laptop and submitting it online. But his hopelessly outdated English language arts teacher, Mr. N, requires students to bring physical books to class, uses a chalkboard instead of the SMART Board, and continues to insist that all assignments be handwritten, in “blue or black ink.” And neatness counts! When Josh’s search for an actual pen uncovers an old one of his mother’s from when she was in sixth grade, marked “Frindle,” Josh looks up the unfamiliar word online and finds a photo of 11-year-old Nicholas Allen, who looks a lot like a young Mr. N. Josh and his friend Vanessa investigate the mystery—and quickly discover that Mr. N. doesn’t want his past revealed. Written with Clements’ trademark humor and featuring his classic straightforward, persistent protagonists, this work takes on the modern digital world, both good and bad, while paying homage to E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. This volume lacks Clements’ sure touch and isn’t quite up to par with his best, but it’s nevertheless a fitting final work from a master storyteller. Central characters present white; names cue ethnic diversity in the supporting cast. Final art not seen.
An engaging tale for the latest generation of Clements fans. (illustrator’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780399557637
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
SEEN & HEARD
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