A thrilling, if overly didactic, mystery.
A fun annual school tradition takes a terrifying turn when a classmate goes missing.
Gracie can’t wait to spend two nights with her best friend at the seventh grade campout in the Catskill Mountains. Upon her arrival, however, her expectations are dampened by the discovery that one cabin is off-limits for repairs, leaving her in the only coed group, which includes teacher Ms. Becker and classmates Leo, Olivia, and (much to everyone’s chagrin) Nicky, who’s a notorious bully. The first night is uneventful, but the campers awaken to discover that Nicky is missing. The police arrive to investigate, but, each harboring their own secret reasons, the three remaining tween cabin mates launch a high-stakes investigation of their own. In the process, they uncover a scheme none of them could have expected. Chapters alternate between the perspectives of Gracie, Olivia, and Leo as they make discoveries that lead them closer to an answer. Each central character has a distinct and interesting perspective and personality, and although these traits are not mined deeply, they allow for helpful insights into the mystery. Thought-provoking questions about forgiveness, making amends, and the efficacy of consequences and retribution are peppered throughout. Important, complex social issues like poverty and child neglect are addressed, but the resolution feels too simple and ignores some real-world complexities. Main characters are coded white; names signal diversity in the supporting cast.
A thrilling, if overly didactic, mystery. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781338884746
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
Funny and endearing, though incomplete characterizations provoke questions.
An isolated class of misfits and a teacher on the edge of retirement are paired together for a year of (supposed) failure.
Zachary Kermit, a 55-year-old teacher, has been haunted for the last 27 years by a student cheating scandal that has earned him the derision of his colleagues and killed his teaching spirit. So when he is assigned to teach the Self-Contained Special Eighth-Grade Class—a dumping ground for “the Unteachables,” students with “behavior issues, learning problems, juvenile delinquents”—he is unfazed, as he is only a year away from early retirement. His relationship with his seven students—diverse in temperament, circumstance, and ability—will be one of “uncomfortable roommates” until June. But when Mr. Kermit unexpectedly stands up for a student, the kids of SCS-8 notice his sense of “justice and fairness.” Mr. Kermit finds he may even care a little about them, and they start to care back in their own way, turning a corner and bringing along a few ghosts from Mr. Kermit’s past. Writing in the alternating voices of Mr. Kermit, most of his students, and two administrators, Korman spins a narrative of redemption and belief in exceeding self-expectations. Naming conventions indicate characters of different ethnic backgrounds, but the book subscribes to a white default. The two students who do not narrate may be students of color, and their characterizations subtly—though arguably inadequately—demonstrate the danger of preconceptions.
Funny and endearing, though incomplete characterizations provoke questions. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-256388-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 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
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