Eliza Bing is a star on the rise.
Veteran nonfiction author Van Vleet returns to fiction in this second installment of the Eliza Bing series.
After a summer spent making friends, losing friends, and discovering a passion for taekwondo, Eliza Bing is ready to tackle the sixth grade alongside her best and only close friend, Annie. Eliza has not had a great track record socially, largely as a consequence of her ADHD, but is determined to be the “best best friend” anyone could ask for. Operation BBF launches Eliza out of her comfort zone and into the cast of the school play, a fractured-fairy-tale twist on “Cinderella.” Though Eliza is there to support Annie’s theatrical aspirations, she soon finds her ADHD gives her unique skills in improv and comedic timing, causing jealous feelings that lead to a rift that threatens the girls’ friendship. Van Vleet rounds out the primary plot with family drama, a budding romance, and Eliza’s quest for her next taekwondo belt. Though stymied at almost every turn, she learns to go with the flow as lessons learned from improv and athletic pursuits converge with her social and familial relationships. As a first-person narrator, Eliza is endearing and authentic; one looks forward to her ongoing adventures in growing up. Eliza, Annie, and the majority of the supporting characters present as white.
Eliza Bing is a star on the rise. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4024-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Certain to steal hearts.
In this follow-up to 2020’s The One and Only Bob, Ruby the elephant is still living at Wildworld Zoological Park and Sanctuary.
She’s apprehensive about her Tuskday, a rite of passage for young elephants when she’ll give a speech in front of the rest of the herd. Luckily, she can confide in her Uncle Ivan, who is next door in Gorilla World, and Uncle Bob, the dog who lives nearby with human friend Julia. Ruby was born in an unspecified part of Africa, later ending up on display in the mall, where she met Ivan, Bob, and Julia. The unexpected arrival of someone from Ruby’s past life on the savanna revives memories both warmly nostalgic and deeply traumatic. An elephant glossary and Castelao’s charming, illustrated guide to elephant body language help immerse readers in Ruby’s world. Goofy, playful, and mischievous Ruby is fully dimensional, as she has shown her bravery during the many hardships of her young life. Applegate deftly tempers themes of grief and loss with compassion and humor as Ruby finds her place in the herd. The author’s note touches on climate change, the illegal ivory trade, and conservation efforts, but the highly emotive framing of the story through the memories of a bewildered baby elephant emphasizes the impact of lines such as “ ‘in Africa,’ I say softly, ‘there were bad people,’ ” without offering readers a nuanced understanding of the broader context that drives poaching.
Certain to steal hearts. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780063080089
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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