A well-constructed mix of brains and footwork.
News of a treasure hidden in her soon-to-be-demolished school prompts a third grade sleuth to search for clues that were laid down decades ago.
Cued by an elderly neighbor’s memories of a never completed treasure hunt set up when she was a third grader in 1947, Leila and canine sidekick Nugget rush to investigate. Though it seems impossible that clues so old could have survived, the authors stretch things surprisingly little to accommodate the unlikely premise as they plant hints for Leila to uncover, ranging from an altered old class photo to origami animals slipped into the spines of certain books. Efforts to keep her hunt secret not only leave her (temporarily) on the outs with her best friend, Kait, but quickly prove futile, and soon several grown-ups, many of her schoolmates, and even a local TV news crew are following behind or haring off on searches of their own. As it turns out, there’s no gold (as Kait excitedly supposes), but the “treasure” that Leila discovers with significant help from Nugget and others in a nicely timed denouement does have enough dollar as well as sentimental value to satisfy young chapter-book readers. Race and ethnicity are left ambiguous in the occasional monochrome illustrations. Nugget, a “cavapoo,” is as cute as he is clever.
A well-constructed mix of brains and footwork. (Mystery. 8-10)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781524877538
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fun-if-flimsy vehicle for science lovers.
A fifth grade girl brings her love of chemistry to the school play.
Kate loves science so much she’s determined to breathe fire. Of course she knows that she needs adult supervision, and so, with her science teacher’s help, Kate demonstrates an experiment with cornstarch and a blowtorch that nearly sets her teacher’s cactus on fire. Consequences ensue. Can someone who loves science as much as Kate does find pleasure spending her fall break at drama camp? It turns out that even the school play—Dragons vs. Unicorns—needs a chemist, though, and Kate saves the day with glue and glitter. She’s sabotaged along the way, but everything is fine after Kate and her frenemy agree to communicate better (an underwhelming response to escalating bullying). Doodles decorate the pages; steps for the one experiment described that can be done at home—making glittery unicorn-horn glue—are included. The most exciting experiments depicted, though, include flames or liquid nitrogen and could only be done with the help of a friendly science teacher. Biberdorf teaches chemistry at the University of Texas and also performs science-education programs as “Kate the Chemist”; in addition to giving her protagonist her name and enthusiasm, she also seems represented in Kate-the-character’s love of the fictional YouTube personality “Dr. Caroline.” Kate and her nemesis are white; Kate’s best friends are black and South Asian.
A fun-if-flimsy vehicle for science lovers. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11655-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Predominantly instructional, but light enough not to sink beneath the weight of its purpose.
Summer-camp kids get (scientifically) physical.
Falling between a boxed definition of gravity and explanations of how that force interacts with others, the story is largely a framework for nonstop real-life demonstrations of gravity in action. Readers see it at work on clock weights, dripping water, a beach ball, random falling objects—and horse-mad new camper Megan, who falls a hair below the height requirement to ride in the afternoon, but (after a night spent lying down) measures a half-inch taller the next morning. Helmer supplies brightly colored cartoon panels featuring a multicultural crew of young campers engaged in general horseplay or watching in wide-eyed wonder as a counselor explains how a mechanical clock works or concocts simple physics demonstrations. Even the titular cuckoo clock swings past as just a MacGuffin for showing how a pendulum works.
Predominantly instructional, but light enough not to sink beneath the weight of its purpose. (glossary, instructions for two experiments, URL for supplementary material) (Graphic fiction/nonfiction hybrid. 8-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4677-0733-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
