Webb's (Amber, 2007, etc.) experience as a fourth-grade teacher helps him create a sweet if predictable story about the...
Fed up with the teasing that he and his classmates endure from bullies and mean girls every day, 11-year-old Barkley Smeelly devises an elaborate plan to convince everyone that Benjamin Hoagie Middle School would be a happier place if they could follow just one rule.
With even his teachers mistaking his last name for "Smelly," Barkley Smeelly is no stranger to being teased. After his first day of middle school ends with his best friend, Peter, getting a pudding cup smashed on his head and his mom telling him she's hired "The Nanny from Hell" to watch him in the afternoon because he's too young to be home alone, Barkley decides he needs to do something to gain more respect. Taking advice from a self-help book he finds in his dad's study, Barkley creates a set of rules that he wants everyone in his life to follow, eventually focusing on just one: "Treat people the way you would like to be treated." Barkley plans to unveil his rule by winning enough "Hoagie Dollars" for good behavior to become principal for a day. He organizes an assembly complete with a celebrity speaker, and everyone agrees to be kinder to one another. Although the plot feels thin at times, Barkley's self-deprecating charm moves the story along. The frustrations he feels as a child—old enough to recognize the things in his life he would like to change but too young to know what to do about them—are realistic and relatable. He and Peter make a touching team of underdogs as they trade inexpert advice about how to talk to the prettiest girl in their class. However, jokes about Peter's weight and flatulence feel out of place given the novel's message of acceptance. Barkley's success at the end is also a little too neatly won to feel truly triumphant.
Webb's (Amber, 2007, etc.) experience as a fourth-grade teacher helps him create a sweet if predictable story about the importance of a rule that kids—and adults—could be reminded of more often. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2011
ISBN: 978-1457506076
Page Count: 143
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Salva Dut is 11 years old when war raging in the Sudan separates him from his family. To avoid the conflict, he walks for years with other refugees, seeking sanctuary and scarce food and water. Park simply yet convincingly depicts the chaos of war and an unforgiving landscape as they expose Salva to cruelties both natural and man-made. The lessons Salva remembers from his family keep him from despair during harsh times in refugee camps and enable him, as a young man, to begin a new life in America. As Salva’s story unfolds, readers also learn about another Sudanese youth, Nya, and how these two stories connect contributes to the satisfying conclusion. This story is told as fiction, but it is based on real-life experiences of one of the “Lost Boys” of the Sudan. Salva and Nya’s compelling voices lift their narrative out of the “issue” of the Sudanese War, and only occasionally does the explanation of necessary context intrude in the storytelling. Salva’s heroism and the truth that water is a source of both conflict and reconciliation receive equal, crystal-clear emphasis in this heartfelt account. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-25127-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
SEEN & HEARD
The inevitable go-to for Percy’s legions of fans who want the stories behind his stories.
Percy Jackson takes a break from adventuring to serve up the Greek gods like flapjacks at a church breakfast.
Percy is on form as he debriefs readers concerning Chaos, Gaea, Ouranos and Pontus, Dionysus, Ariadne and Persephone, all in his dude’s patter: “He’d forgotten how beautiful Gaea could be when she wasn’t all yelling up in his face.” Here they are, all 12 Olympians, plus many various offspring and associates: the gold standard of dysfunctional families, whom Percy plays like a lute, sometimes lyrically, sometimes with a more sardonic air. Percy’s gift, which is no great secret, is to breathe new life into the gods. Closest attention is paid to the Olympians, but Riordan has a sure touch when it comes to fitting much into a small space—as does Rocco’s artwork, which smokes and writhes on the page as if hit by lightning—so readers will also meet Makaria, “goddess of blessed peaceful deaths,” and the Theban Teiresias, who accidentally sees Athena bathing. She blinds him but also gives him the ability to understand the language of birds. The atmosphere crackles and then dissolves, again and again: “He could even send the Furies after living people if they committed a truly horrific crime—like killing a family member, desecrating a temple, or singing Journey songs on karaoke night.”
The inevitable go-to for Percy’s legions of fans who want the stories behind his stories. (Mythology. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-8364-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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