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HENRY HUBBLE'S BOOK OF TROUBLES

Name: HENRY HUBBLE'S BOOK OF TROUBLES
Author: Andy Myer
ISBN: 978-0-385-74439-3

by Andy Myer ; illustrated by Andy Myer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 10, 2015

For readers who’ve exhausted the Wimpy Kid series, an acceptable follow-up.

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Middle schooler Henry Harrison Hubble keeps an occasional “pretty personal” journal, but when it’s stolen and pages are posted on social media, he has to take drastic action.

Judging by the contents of his backpack (one of his troubles), Henry is in the eighth grade in school, but he’s years behind in social skills and sense of humor. Fascinated by the fact that he was named after the ninth U.S. president, he’s particularly pleased with his family’s special connection: They own a (now dried-up and bottled) turd from Harrison’s dog. Henry makes a variety of unwise choices that lead to troubles on a whale-watching field trip, at Halloween, in the lunchroom and in science class. Forging his mother’s name on a discipline slip leads to a grounding and actually seeing the historic turd, but he’s eventually released for other troubles: a Valentine’s Day dance and the loss of his journal. Like many other titles aimed at the middle-grade reader, this purports to be the diary of a budding cartoonist. Henry’s first-person narrative is accompanied by black-and-white drawings. He also includes some (convincingly child-written) poems. The genuine issue in Henry’s story is lost in the bathroom humor, which fourth graders will probably love.

For readers who’ve exhausted the Wimpy Kid series, an acceptable follow-up. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-74439-3

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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by Andy Myer & illustrated by Andy Myer

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by Andy Myer & illustrated by Andy Myer

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DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

A NOVEL IN CARTOONS

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 1

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2007

Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
PARTYPOOPER
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney

- BOOK REVIEW
HOT MESS
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney

- BOOK REVIEW
NO BRAINER
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney

- BOOK REVIEW
PARTYPOOPER
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney

- BOOK REVIEW
HOT MESS
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney

- BOOK REVIEW
NO BRAINER
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney

- PERSPECTIVES
April Is the Cruellest Month? No, It’s Wimpy Kid Month

- SEEN & HEARD
Stephenie Meyer Launches Tour at Drive-In Theater

- PERSPECTIVES
Best of the Century: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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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.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)