A dog lover’s delight with a chewy center.
A depressed sixth grader discovers what it means to have a dog’s life.
What with the recent death of his beloved Grandma Mimi, the departure of his supportive older half sister, Billie, to an arts school in Ireland, and the near continual chaos his African American family’s rambunctious goldendoodle, Boof, wreaks around the house, compulsive neat freak Parker Pitts is losing the battle to cope. School’s no haven either, considering the menacing attentions of outsized bully Deke Wightman and a likewise painful crush on classmate Gabriella Cortez. Literal new perspectives ensue for boy and dog both, however, after Parker finds Boof chewing on Mimi’s treasured wooden effigy of Eshu, the Yoruba trickster god, and the two wake up the next morning in switched bodies. Cue the steep learning curves, as Boof discovers all sorts of fun new capabilities while Parker, frantically searching for a way to switch back, also has to overcome his resistance to the less hygienic parts of life as a dog. Along with exploiting the comedic possibilities, Hale offers credible insights into how Boof’s forthright doggy nature might affect relationships at school (once he gets over the urge to sniff butts)…and also ways in which the freedom to act like a dog could work a sea change in Parker’s emotional landscape. The happy ending sees boy and dog restored and inseparable, having learned something about both being responsible and being too responsible.
A dog lover’s delight with a chewy center. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64591-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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