Gripping gaming action alongside compassionate explorations of mental health concerns.
A shy, talented gamer develops new friendships while navigating the effects of his mother’s bipolar disorder.
Being on Lawsondale Middle School’s esports team has been great for Josh Bard, who prefers to go by his last name only and has a lot of worries. Bard has a hard time opening up to people, but on the advice of wise school psychologist Mrs. Beckett, he’s trying to work on his friendships. An influx of new teammates plus several new schools joining their league is a lot to process, even without the fact that his former bully, Dmitri Xanthopoulos, is now on the Gamers team too. Bard’s mother is experiencing struggles related to her bipolar disorder, which means that someone needs to be with her all the time, a task that sometimes falls to Bard despite his after-school Gamers meetings. As the team prepares for a winter esports tournament, Bard’s old and new friendships deepen even as both his resiliency and gaming skills are put to the test. This second entry in the Gamers series builds on relationships formed in the first book but works well as a stand-alone, too. As in the series opener, the storyline is particularly well-balanced between active gaming sessions and heavier moments of emotional resonance. Bard wears hearing aids, uses “all pronouns,” and reads white; there’s abundant diversity among his teammates.
Gripping gaming action alongside compassionate explorations of mental health concerns. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 30, 2026
ISBN: 9781645952824
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Pixel+Ink
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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