Nothing turns out quite as planned in this warm and believable story of two classrooms, three sisters, and one new friendship. Amy and May, the troublesome twins from Big Trouble in Twinsville (not reviewed), are starting kindergarten. Eve, their older sister, is going to fourth grade and is hoping for some changes of her own. She is relieved that the fourth-grade classrooms will be far away from the twins and means to keep her life as separated from theirs as possible. She has big plans: she will not let people think she is a goody-goody; she will try to stop worrying so much; and she will make at least one “new, good friend.” Eve is unpleasantly surprised to discover that the long-time fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Leonard, is not in her classroom on the first day as she’d hoped. A new, young Miss Sherman is her teacher. Then she learns that the kindergarten teacher is also named Miss Sherman and she’s the twin sister of the fourth-grade Miss Sherman. The teaching sisters bring the two grades together to study the stars and signs of the zodiac and, as luck would have it, May and Eve are paired up to study Gemini, also twins. Eve does make a new friend, though he is hardly what she would have predicted on the first day. Adam (yes, that makes them Adam and Eve) is a new boy at the school and he’s everything Eve needs in a friend. Though they go through the expected rough spots all new friendships suffer, Adam and Eve become fast friends and a model of a boy-girl friendship, sadly lacking in fiction for this age group. Levy’s lively plot and winning characters are just right for each other. Match this with Johanna Hurwitz’s earlier Starting School for double the pleasure. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-028592-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the...
Charlie Bumpers is doomed. The one teacher he never wanted in the whole school turns out to be his fourth-grade teacher.
Charlie recalls third grade, when he accidentally hit the scariest teacher in the whole school with his sneaker. “I know all about you, Charlie Bumpers,” she says menacingly on the first day of fourth grade. Now, in addition to all the hardships of starting school, he has gotten off on the wrong foot with her. Charlie’s dry and dramatic narrative voice clearly reveals the inner life of a 9-year-old—the glass is always half empty, especially in light of a series of well-intentioned events gone awry. It’s quite a litany: “Hitting Mrs. Burke in the head with the sneaker. The messy desk. The swinging on the door. The toilet paper. And now this—the shoe on the roof.” Harley has teamed once again with illustrator Gustavson (Lost and Found, 2012) to create a real-life world in which a likable kid must face the everyday terrors of childhood: enormous bullies, looming teachers and thick gym coaches with huge pointing fingers. Into this series opener, Harley magically weaves the simple lesson that people, even teachers, can surprise you.
Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the sarcasm of Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-56145-732-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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