As an only child and the new kid in fourth grade, Jenna suffers from loneliness made only worse by the taunting of class bully Buzz; but her misery is mercifully curtailed when Kate Bradner joins the class and becomes a friend. Kate—who wastes no time putting Buzz in his place (though she also has some sympathy for him)—is the oldest of four children whose family has moved to a Minnesota farm. The Bradners' barn is the site of Jenna's ``big jump,'' her leap to the kind of bravery she admires in her mother (one of 11 adventuresome siblings) and in Kate—the kind that comes from being a little impulsive and from making one's own decisions. Jenna's swing from the hayloft results in a broken arm, but even this turns out to be only a temporary setback in her quest. Thureen's Jenna is hardly a match for Ramona Quimby, who's invoked on page two—she doesn't have Ramona's vibrant personality, nor are her experiences nearly as entertaining, while her story has the first novel's common flaw of overexplaining. Still, a workmanlike effort that younger or less sophisticated readers may enjoy. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 30, 1993
ISBN: 0-689-31834-0
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993
In another lightweight "Springboard Book," Bertie of The Bathwater Gang (1990) organizes a dog-washing business in hopes of earning enough for circus tickets. Finding that demand for the service is virtually nil, the gang comes up with what Granny, when she finds out, calla a "flimflam": they generate a need by getting the neighborhood pets dirty. Spinelli's practiced narration, well laced with amusing dialogue, reads with ease, but the adult appropriation of issues and action here is disappointing, Not only is it Granny who points out that what the kids' are doing is dishonest, but she also arranges for them to get to the circus after all, by means of a most unlikely arrangement: they earn their tickets by giving one of the circus elephants a bath. Maniac Magee pondered his own moral dilemmas and solved his own problems. A minor effort. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-80808-3
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1992
None
The author of Family Dinner (1992, reviewed 12/15/91) brings the same humorously perceptive eye to five stories for younger readers, each a revealing incident involving Edward Fraser (five) and his older brother Jason. Denied a dog because of their allergies, Edward pretends (to Jason's embarrassment) to be one, until neighbors complain about the barking; he makes friends with a whopping but amiable new fourth-grade neighbor (``Killer Kelly''); at Dad's insistence, the family goes on a wilderness vacation, only to interrupted by a motorcyclers' gathering. Here, Cutler is better at setting up amusing situations than at capitalizing on them: in the funniest story, both boys need glasses, to Edward's glee and Jason's consternation. Finally admitting that he needs them for baseball, Jason settles on prescription ``shades'' as a face-saver; the story trails off in the midst of a dubious scheme to earn them. Still, the dialogue is on target, and the brothers make an engaging pair whose antics are sure to entertain Cleary and Hurwitz fans. (Fiction. 7-10)
None NonePub Date: Oct. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-35526-6
Page Count: 102
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992
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