Worst. Principal. Ever. And plenty of potty humor, dialed up to 11.
Prankster Russell Sprowt bites off considerably more than he can chew in a bid to get him and his friends off his ultramean principal’s “manure list.”
Cazet, a former school librarian, really has the ax and grindstone out. There’s been a spate of disappearances at Russell’s school, most notably fave teacher Miss Mabel Butters, suddenly replaced by Jim Beam–sucking sub “Smiling Sally.” Against this backdrop, the theft of a prized Mud Wrestling Champion of the Century trophy prompts hulking principal Ms. Krunchensnap (formerly Big Mama the Eye Popper) to extort vows from Russell, her favorite victim, not only to find the trophy, but to expedite a rematch with retired rival Torpedo the Atomic Midget. Fortunately, Russell has a loyal and resourceful posse with a valuable new member in Lou, a weirdly flexible drainpipe and sewer dweller. Unfortunately, the young detectives have a short deadline, storm drain monsters, and a pair of requisite bullies, Butch and Slow Eddie, to cope with. Nonetheless, highlighted by gloriously mucky bouts of mud wrestling, all comes round right. Though too small to determine his oddball characters’ ethnicities, the author’s chapter head vignettes provide amusing peeks at upcoming incidents.
Worst. Principal. Ever. And plenty of potty humor, dialed up to 11. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-939547-32-3
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Energizing and compassionate.
An aspiring transgender Junior Olympian swimmer finds the strength and pride in his identity to race toward his dreams in this debut coming-of-age novel by groundbreaking trans athlete Bailar.
Starting over after his abusive and discriminatory swim coach excluded him from the team, Obie Chang, a biracial (White/Korean) transgender boy worries about catching up to the other boys and proving that he is “man enough.” Although his family supports him, one of his best friends at school and the pool has turned into his biggest bully, and the other is drifting away toward the mean, popular girls. As he dives from the blocks into the challenging waters of seventh grade and swims toward his goal of qualifying for the Junior Olympics, Obie discovers belonging in his community and in himself. Affirming adults—including his parents and grandparents, a new swim coach, and his favorite teacher—play significant supporting roles by offering encouragement without pressure, centering Obie’s feelings, and validating Obie’s right to set his own boundaries. Vulnerable first-person narration explores Obie’s internal conflict about standing up for himself and his desire to connect to his Korean heritage through his relationship with Halmoni, his paternal grandmother. A romance with Charlie, a cisgender biracial (Cuban/White) girl, is gentle and privacy-affirming. Short chapters and the steady pace of external tension balance moments of rumination, grounding them in the ongoing action of Obie’s experiences.
Energizing and compassionate. (author's note, resources, glossary) (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-37946-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
PROFILES
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure
A Prohibition-era child enlists a gifted pickpocket and a pair of budding circus performers in a clever ruse to save her ancestral home from being stolen by developers.
Rundell sets her iron-jawed protagonist on a seemingly impossible quest: to break into the ramshackle Hudson River castle from which her grieving grandfather has been abruptly evicted by unscrupulous con man Victor Sorrotore and recover a fabulously valuable hidden emerald. Laying out an elaborate scheme in a notebook that itself turns out to be an integral part of the ensuing caper, Vita, only slowed by a bout with polio years before, enlists a team of helpers. Silk, a light-fingered orphan, aspiring aerialist Samuel Kawadza, and Arkady, a Russian lad with a remarkable affinity for and with animals, all join her in a series of expeditions, mostly nocturnal, through and under Manhattan. The city never comes to life the way the human characters do (Vita, for instance, “had six kinds of smile, and five of them were real”) but often does have a tangible presence, and notwithstanding Vita’s encounter with a (rather anachronistically styled) “Latina” librarian, period attitudes toward race and class are convincingly drawn. Vita, Silk, and Arkady all present white; Samuel, a Shona immigrant from Southern Rhodesia, is the only primary character of color. Santoso’s vignettes of, mostly, animals and small items add occasional visual grace notes.
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure . (Historical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-1948-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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