Warm fuzzies alone make this worth buzzing about.
Students compete to plan the best Mother’s Day celebration.
As the holiday approaches, Ms. Tam announces a classwide party-planning contest; students will vote on their favorite idea. Excitement grows, but not all students are thrilled about the holiday. Bee, who has two fathers, was conceived via egg donor and carried by a surrogate, and she isn’t sure if her dads will even be invited. When classroom bully Penny says it will surely be a “mothers-only party,” Bee’s “squiggly squirmy” feelings get even worse. Bee’s besties Sarah and Tiam—the three of them call themselves the Winged Wonders due to their passion for bugs—swoop in to support her, and they mull a nature-inspired pitch that will win everyone over without leaving anyone out. Their party idea gets better and better, but is it good enough to win? Neville’s debut is a promising kickoff to an affirming, inclusive early chapter book series. Bee is an endearing, sensitive narrator; even as she grapples with her own insecurities, she frets when she inadvertently makes a classmate feel self-conscious about his family. A bee motif—Bee’s nickname stems from her love of the insects; when the classmates work together, Bee compares them to a buzzing hive—adds a layer of whimsy. Spot and full-page cartoon illustrations depict a racially diverse classroom; Bee is pale-skinned.
Warm fuzzies alone make this worth buzzing about. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781834020464
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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