An appealing, doggedly upbeat tale.
In this first of a new series—a spinoff from Butler’s popular Kayla and King books—a young girl’s summer is suddenly filled with dogs.
When her grandmother falls ill, 9-year-old Hazel and her mother travel from their home in Chicago to Minnesota. Grandma runs a doggy daycare out of her barn, and Hazel and Mom are here to step in while she recovers. Grandma prefers dogs to people, and she’s less than thrilled at their arrival (“Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days,” as she puts it). Still, she begrudgingly accepts their assistance, and everyone pitches in—including Mom’s longtime friend Mallory and her children, 11-year-old KC (who uses they/them pronouns) and 7-year-old Jonah. Butler balances doggy antics with gently presented moments of emotional awareness. When Hazel struggles under the weight of keeping a secret from her mother, Jonah points out that “tattling isn’t always bad.” And when Jonah inadvertently shares the secret with his mother, Hazel astutely observes, “Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do when you have a secret.” Authentic depictions of friendship and family dynamics and realistic opportunities for responsibilities and problem-solving are smoothly and entertainingly combined here. Hazel and her family appear white in Kote’s cheerful, clear cartoon illustrations; the visuals add to the charm and hint at some diversity among the other humans.
An appealing, doggedly upbeat tale. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781682637234
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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