An elegant, empathetic final visit to a bygone time.
Rylant’s trilogy reaches a suitably quiet conclusion.
It’s May 1974 in Rosetown, Indiana, and Flora’s nearly finished with fifth grade. She looks back on the year’s heartbreaks and joys: She and her friend Yury mourned the closure of the town bookstore, but they distracted themselves by taking horseback riding lessons at Day Road Farm and discovered a new shared interest. Fifth grade presented challenges, like oral reports; for an introverted kid like Flora, success required personal bravery, parental support, and a dash of help from the local children’s librarian. Summer sprawls ahead now. A new tenant has moved into the bookstore’s old storefront; the Slightly Cracked Teacup, an antique shop, speaks to Flora’s predilections for all things old, worn in, and reliable. Flora learns that Yury, a Ukrainian immigrant, might be leaving town, but her fear of his possible departure offers an opportunity for a generous, reassuring gift from Yury’s parents. As in the series’ previous entries, Rylant imbues her gently flowing story with almost reverent affection for its simpler-time, small-town setting. She deftly captures her protagonist’s often-conflicting feelings. Flora worries about change and thinks back on what’s been lost even as new things provide fresh delights; her perspective will resonate deeply with readers who recognize Flora as kin—sensitive children and nostalgic adults alike. Characters present white.
An elegant, empathetic final visit to a bygone time. (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 23, 2026
ISBN: 9781665939942
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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