Heads in unexpected directions and ends satisfyingly.
A touch of magic helps a girl understand her family’s past and improve their future.
When 12-year-old Tennessee Lancaster goes to stay in the country for a month with Mimsy, her maternal grandmother, she’s making yet another attempt to hold her family together. Their finances are strained to the point where they’ve just moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Athens, Georgia, that won’t hold their family of six, but her mom’s relationship with Mimsy is tense, and Tennie fears a return of her mother’s depression. Tennie resents her role as peacemaker but is too anxious to let it go. Adding to her burden, whenever Tennie touches something, she risks feeling whatever past emotions are embedded in the item. A budding new friendship in Howler’s Hollow with Fox Sanchez-Griffin, who is nonbinary, helps ease her worries over the realization that Mimsy is struggling financially and emotionally too and her misgivings about Mimsy’s rich city-slicker beau. But Fox can sense ghosts and has secrets of their own. Van Otterloo’s narration gets a bit too folksy sometimes, with similes jammed in like Walmart on Black Friday, but they do well at unfolding the narrative over time. The things Tennie learns through magic lead to a nonmagical and healthy solution to her family’s problems. Tennie and her family are White; Fox is cued as having Latinx ancestry, and there is diversity among secondary characters.
Heads in unexpected directions and ends satisfyingly. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-70203-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun
It’s been 42 days since the Monster Apocalypse began, and 13-year-old Jack Sullivan, a self-proclaimed “zombie-fighting, monster-slaying tornado of cool” is on a quest to find and rescue his not-so-secret crush, June Del Toro, whether she needs it, wants it, or not.
Jack cobbles together an unlikely but endearing crew, including his scientist best friend, Quint Baker; Dirk Savage, Parker Middle School’s biggest bully; and a pet monster named Rover, to help him save the damsel in distress and complete the “ULTIMATE Feat of Apocalyptic Success.” Middle-grade readers, particularly boys, will find Jack’s pitch-perfect mix of humor, bravado, and self-professed geekiness impossible to resist. His sidekicks are equally entertaining, and it doesn’t hurt that there are also plenty of oozing, drooling, sharp-toothed monsters and zombies and a host of gizmos and gadgets to hook readers and keep them cheering with every turn of the page. Holgate’s illustrations play an integral role in the novel’s success. They not only bring Brallier’s characters to life, but also add depth and detail to the story, making plain just exactly how big Rover is and giving the lie to Jack’s “killer driving.” The marriage of text and illustration serves as a perfect example of what an illustrated novel can and should be.
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun (. (Graphic/horror hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01661-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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