Gingerbread is plentiful in this spooky “Hansel and Gretel” retelling, but the lessons about friendship are sweeter still.
Bee assumed her family vacation would be boring; instead, she finds herself haunted and hunted by the Gingerbread Witch.
Twelve-year-old Indian Canadian Binita “Bee” Bakshi is embarrassed by her family. Her father is loud, her mother is a cheapskate, and her beloved Granny incessantly hums show tunes. Most embarrassing of all, however, is Bee herself. Her frizzy hair, tan skin, and secondhand clothes mark her as different when all she wants is to fit in. Bee finds solace in horror books featuring the fearless Betsy Chillers taking on paranormal threats. When her family decides to spend a week without Wi-Fi at a cottage on Storm Lake, however, Bee finds that the lessons from her favorite series are far from hypothetical. Something in the forest is watching her, something in the water wants to hurt her, and she can’t shake the smell of gingerbread. As Bee works with new friends Lucas, who is coded white, and brown-skinned Alina to unravel the sinister mysteries of Storm Lake, she must confront ghosts both past and present. Full of twists, genuine scares, and satisfying reveals, this debut is sure to please readers in search of a thrill.
Gingerbread is plentiful in this spooky “Hansel and Gretel” retelling, but the lessons about friendship are sweeter still. (Supernatural. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9780063275720
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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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