The author of the Pure Dead books applies the same ebullient and wacky sense of humor to a new series for younger readers. Lily’s new little sister, Daisy, is a witch. Lily knows this, because she can see when Daisy transforms herself into a dragonlet or Lily into a slug, and readers know it, because they have seen the Sisters of Hiss (Chin, Nose and poor Toad) make her so. But no one listens to Lily, and no one can see what Daisy does except Lily, so the gross, silly and extremely funny happenings remain a secret only readers share. Lily and Daisy’s befuddled parents, their older brother Jack (never seen without his earbuds) and a neighbor to their new home in the very North of Scotland whose parents named her Vivaldi also play parts, as does WayWoof, an odoriferous dog conjured often by Daisy, smelled by many but seen by very few. Gliori’s spot illustrations are spot-on, and various typefaces and footnotes are used to giggly effect. A second volume, Witch Baby and Me After Dark (ISBN: 978-0-55255-678-1), is also available, with more to come. (Magical adventure. 8-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-55255-676-7
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Corgi Children’s Books/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet!
Ryan Hart is navigating the fourth grade and all its challenges with determination.
Her mom named her Ryan because it means “king,” and she wanted Ryan to feel powerful every time she heard her name; Ryan knows it means she is a leader. So when changes occur or disaster strikes, budding chef Ryan does her best to find the positive and “make sunshine.” When her dad is laid off from the post office, the family must make adjustments that include moving into a smaller house, selling their car, and changing how they shop for groceries. But Ryan gets to stay at Vernon Elementary, and her mom still finds a way to get her the ingredients she needs to practice new recipes. Her older brother, Ray, can be bossy, but he finds little ways to support her, especially when she is down—as does the whole family. Each episodic chapter confronts Ryan with a situation; intermittently funny, frustrating, and touching, they should be familiar and accessible to readers, as when Ryan fumbles her Easter speech despite careful practice. Ryan, her family, and friends are Black, and Watson continues to bring visibility to both Portland, Oregon, generally and its Black community specifically, making another wonderful contribution that allows Black readers to see themselves and all readers to find a character they can love.
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet! (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0056-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...
This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.
Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
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