It’s been 50 years since the maternal über-parent’s last new offering of magically effective cures for childhood contretemps, but neither Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle nor her adoring young neighbors (nor their issues) have aged a day in this fresh set—one chapter composed (but never published) by Betty and the rest by her daughter. Despite parental doubts (“But isn’t she very old fashioned? Would she know about modern things like television?”), Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle calmly comes through with a “Just-One-More-TV-Show Cure,” a “Won’t-Brush-Teeth Cure” and five more, sometimes with help from her remarkably capable pets or a bit of magic. The episodes are as cut and dried in structure as ever, and the figures in Boiger’s line-drawn vignettes carry on the antique air, with nary a pair of jeans or T-shirt to be seen. The pattern breaks at the end with a thoroughly splendid party for Mrs. P., thrown by the children and their parents and culminating in a serenade from the whole well-adjusted town—but it’s seeing the picky eaters, bad-mouthers and slovenly youth teased out of their habits that will, as always, draw readers. (Fantasy. 9-11)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-06-072812-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
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
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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