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THE KIND OF FRIENDS WE USED TO BE

Name: THE KIND OF FRIENDS WE USED TO BE
Author: Frances O’Roark Dowell
ISBN: 978-1-4169-5031-8

From the Secret Language of Girls series , Vol. 2

by Frances O’Roark Dowell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 27, 2009

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“Do you ever miss it?” Marylin asks Kate. “Being all-the-time friends, like we used to be?” The protagonists of 2004’s The Secret Language of Girls return, their sixth-grade year having found these two BFFs drifting apart. One year further along, they are still negotiating their new relationship, cheerleader Marylin desperate to help her friend not seem quite so “weird,” while budding rocker Kate declares, “I’m good the way I am.” At school, the girls occupy their separate orbits, finding new friends and new interests while still checking in with each other. Marylin’s decision to run for student government provides her the opportunity to define herself and to develop a more mature friendship with Kate. The shifting third-person narrative follows each girl in turn, investing both with clearly distinct and highly sympathetic personalities that lead them in occasionally criss-crossing directions; the questions they ask themselves as they try out new identities arise naturally and their answers are always disarmingly honest. Dowell’s characteristically sensitive exploration of the inner lives of these two girls will resonate long and loud. (Fiction. 10-12)

Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4169-5031-8

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW TO BUILD A STORY…OR, THE BIG WHAT IF
by Frances O’Roark Dowell ; illustrated by Stacy Ebert

- BOOK REVIEW
SAM THE MAN & THE RUTABAGA PLAN
by Frances O’Roark Dowell ; illustrated by Amy June Bates

- BOOK REVIEW
SAM THE MAN & THE CHICKEN PLAN
by Frances O’Roark Dowell ; illustrated by Amy June Bates

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DAVID GOES TO SCHOOL

by David Shannon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

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The poster boy for relentless mischief-makers everywhere, first encountered in No, David! (1998), gives his weary mother a rest by going to school. Naturally, he’s tardy, and that’s but the first in a long string of offenses—“Sit down, David! Keep your hands to yourself! PAY ATTENTION!”—that culminates in an afterschool stint. Children will, of course, recognize every line of the text and every one of David’s moves, and although he doesn’t exhibit the larger- than-life quality that made him a tall-tale anti-hero in his first appearance, his round-headed, gap-toothed enthusiasm is still endearing. For all his disruptive behavior, he shows not a trace of malice, and it’ll be easy for readers to want to encourage his further exploits. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-590-48087-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THAT'S NOT FUNNY, DAVID!
by David Shannon ; illustrated by David Shannon

- BOOK REVIEW
GOLD!
by David Shannon ; illustrated by David Shannon

- BOOK REVIEW
MR. NOGGINBODY AND THE CHILDISH CHILD
by David Shannon ; illustrated by David Shannon

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KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES

From the Keeper of the Lost Cities series , Vol. 1

by Shannon Messenger ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 2, 2012

Wholesome shading to bland, but well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast headed by a child...

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A San Diego preteen learns that she’s an elf, with a place in magic school if she moves to the elves’ hidden realm.

Having felt like an outsider since a knock on the head at age 5 left her able to read minds, Sophie is thrilled when hunky teen stranger Fitz convinces her that she’s not human at all and transports her to the land of Lumenaria, where the ageless elves live. Taken in by a loving couple who run a sanctuary for extinct and mythical animals, Sophie quickly gathers friends and rivals at Foxfire, a distinctly Hogwarts-style school. She also uncovers both clues to her mysterious origins and hints that a rash of strangely hard-to-quench wildfires back on Earth are signs of some dark scheme at work. Though Messenger introduces several characters with inner conflicts and ambiguous agendas, Sophie herself is more simply drawn as a smart, radiant newcomer who unwillingly becomes the center of attention while developing what turn out to be uncommonly powerful magical abilities—reminiscent of the younger Harry Potter, though lacking that streak of mischievousness that rescues Harry from seeming a little too perfect. The author puts her through a kidnapping and several close brushes with death before leaving her poised, amid hints of a higher destiny and still-anonymous enemies, for sequels.

Wholesome shading to bland, but well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast headed by a child who, while overly fond of screaming, rises to every challenge. (Fantasy. 10-12)