A wise and tender comical adventure.
Angelino Brown—an actual angel—finds a home and grows into a real boy in Almond’s latest.
Almond’s not-overly-reverent look at the transformative power of a pure heart is both sweet and broad-humored. Bert Brown is generally disgruntled with driving his bus (“Passengers! Who invented passengers?”), but then he finds a small angel in his pocket. Somehow the day gets better. Angelino, as Bert and his kind wife, Betty, name the winged child, is fond of such foods as cake and gumdrops, and he farts gently with some frequency. At school, where Betty is the cook, Angelino confides to young Nancy, “I don’t know who I am,” but he plays soccer with heart despite his size. Bert and Betty, who lost a child long ago; students Nancy Miller, Alice Obi, and Jack Fox; and the lovely art teacher, Ms. Monteverdi, become Angelino’s champions and defenders. Most characters appear to be white, but Alice is illustrated with dark skin and hair arranged in puffballs, and school secretary Samantha Cludd, also dark-skinned, wears a headscarf. Almond pokes fun at the self-important and the needlessly important, employing terrifically silly names: for example, Professor Smellie (formerly of the University of Blithering-on-the-Fen). A badly behaved pair of young men kidnaps Angelino, hoping to sell him to the highest bidder, but Basher, a bully as a boy and worse now, represents the dark side of the heart and brings out Angelino’s fighting spirit.
A wise and tender comical adventure. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9563-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Good-hearted fun—great for fans of Kit Feeny and Babymouse.
It’s a Bigfeet family reunion!
Everyone’s favorite frosty, furry cryptid, the yeti, actually has a name: Blizz Richards. From his supersecret HQ in Nepal he keeps in touch with his fellow cryptids, all of whom have sworn an oath to keep themselves hidden. That’s not always easy, especially when there are cryptozoologists, like the nasty (but bumbling) George Vanquist, who are always trying to expose the secretive creatures. Vanquist got a picture of Blizz’s cousin Brian near his home in British Columbia, causing the mortified Brian to disappear entirely. When Blizz receives an invitation to a Bigfeet family reunion in Canada, he calls his buddies Alexander (one of Santa’s elves), Gunthar (a goblin) and Frank the Arctic fox to help him get ready. When they arrive in Canada, Brian is still nowhere to be seen. Can Blizz and his skunk ape and other sasquatch cousins find Brian, have the reunion and evade Vanquist? If anyone can, the Bigfeet clan can. Illustrator Sherry’s first volume in the Yeti Files is a fast and funny graphic-prose tale full of labeled pictures and comic-style panels. Those just starting chapter books may have some trouble with a few big words, but they’ll enjoy the big friendly monsters and immediately ask for the next tale—which looks to be about the Loch Ness monster.
Good-hearted fun—great for fans of Kit Feeny and Babymouse. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-55617-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
The second installment in this spirited series is a hit.
A new baby coming means Ryan has lots of opportunities to grow love.
Ryan has so much to look forward to this summer—she is going to be a big sister, and she finally gets to go to church camp! But new adventures bring challenges, too. Ryan feels like the baby is taking forever to arrive, and with Mom on bed rest, she isn’t able to participate in the family’s typical summer activities. Ryan’s Dad is still working the late shift, which means he gets home and goes to bed when she and her older brother, Ray, are waking up, so their quality daddy-daughter time is limited to one day a week. When the time for camp finally arrives, Ryan is so worried about bugs, ghosts, and sharing a cabin that she wonders if she should go at all. Watson’s heroine is smart and courageous, bringing her optimistic attitude to any challenge she faces. Hard topics like family finances and complex relationships with friends are discussed in an age-appropriate way. Watson continues to excel at crafting a sense of place; she transports readers to Portland, Oregon, with an attention to detail that can only come from someone who has loved that city. Ryan, her family, and friends are Black, and occasional illustrations by Mata spotlight their joy and make this book shine.
The second installment in this spirited series is a hit. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0058-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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