An enjoyable, educational trip through one of nature’s most complicated machines.
A young cell learns how to do an unusual job in this debut children’s novel.
Simon Spleen is a single cell in the body of a young man named Gerald. Like all cells, he’s required to go to the Gerald School of Cellular Apprenticeship to learn how to support and protect his person’s various bodily functions. Although he’s personally destined to help the spleen clean Gerald’s blood, he also has to learn all about the other parts of the body. Thanks to the school’s hands-on teaching philosophy, he sees the digestive system, the immune system, and others up-close while making friends with the energetic Jeff Heart, smart Lizy Thyroid, and cool Ryan Lung. He also has to deal with some bullies who look down on smaller cells, but this only makes him happier when he discovers his own unique talent for taming red blood cells. (His special skills also sometimes get him in trouble, though.) All the cells are forced to put their abilities to the test early when the evil germ Meningitis invades Gerald and tries to destroy the whole body. This short tale for younger readers also contains several illustrations by the author’s 6-year-old daughter, Sophie. Overall, the book has a fun, energetic style that many children will enjoy, and most of its anatomy lessons are effortlessly incorporated into the story. Along with biology, Simon and company also learn lessons about friendship, teamwork, and how to recover from errors. The setting also leads to goofy jokes, such as “You slept like a kidney stone,” but it doesn’t rely on them to the point of annoyance. In broad strokes, the plot uses elements that are reminiscent of those in other children’s books, particularly the Harry Potter series, but placing them in a new setting may be enough to keep younger readers from finding the story predictable. Even older readers may finish the book with a better understanding of how the body works.
An enjoyable, educational trip through one of nature’s most complicated machines.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5228-9623-4
Page Count: 148
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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