Haynes kicks off the West 7th Wildcats series, featuring a circle of sixth-grade boys involved in a thinly disguised lesson in business and economics. After looking forward to Mr. Harrison's famous economics unit for years, Bobby and his five buddies are dismayed to learn that they can only work in fours—and positively horrified when Kevin, one of the excluded, ends up in arch-rival Jenny Pederson's group. The object is to create a product to sell at River Road School's Marketplace Day, with rewards for the biggest moneymakers. To this end, Bobby and the others absorb lessons in supply and demand, market research, financing, advertising, customer service, and other topics, before settling on calorie-loaded Wildcat Cookies as their product. Practicing a bit of corporate espionage, Jenny and Kevin steal the idea, and the race is on. The storytelling is bland— Mr. Harrison ``was nice and fun and we learned a lot''—and Kevin, described as an okay student even though he often ``forgets'' to do his work and as such a cutup that he's in danger of being expelled, never seems believable. Nonetheless, the cookie rivalry ends on a harmonious note, and the economics are laid on with a light touch. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 20, 1997
ISBN: 1-57131-608-6
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Milkweed
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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