A slowly unfolding read for bug lovers and environmentalists.
Can Eden find a way to stop insect-hating August from killing all the bugs?
In this debut by the writer and director of Black-ish and other hit TV shows, 9-year-old August, a White boy who is the victim of bullying, hates insects: A cockroach climbs up his arm during a school play, a fly lands in his mouth and he vomits on his favorite teacher, and a spiderweb causes him to drop a box of his mother’s homemade jelly. August schemes to get his hands on a pesticide that is rumored to be exceptionally toxic—only its inventor is missing. On her 10th birthday, Eden, who has a White Jewish mother and Black father and comes from a musical family, learns she can talk to wasps using her kazoo. She saves a paper wasps’ nest from a group of destructive children, and, taken by her kindness, the wasp queen informs her of a mysterious school dedicated to teaching communication between insects and humans. Eden finds a card in a library book for the Institute for Lower Learning: Could it be the right school? Eden’s and August’s quests intersect at the institute. Though the prose is beautiful, the novel creeps along, with extensive passages of narration that are not broken up with dialogue. Despite the protagonists’ young ages, older middle-grade readers may be drawn to the strong messages about environmentalism, friendship, and self-discovery.
A slowly unfolding read for bug lovers and environmentalists. (Morse code and semaphore charts) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-40785-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
Readers familiar with Sherlock Holmes, as well as an array of modern fantasists from Roald Dahl on, will find plenty of...
A 12-year-old Irish crime lord takes on the realm of Faerie to recoup his family fortune in this madcap leap aboard the Pottermania bandwagon.
Having done his homework, thanks to a fairy manual extorted from an alcoholic sprite in Ho Chi Minh City, young Fowl and his omnicompetent butler, Butler, not only seize the equally aptly named Holly Short, feisty member of LEPrecon (an elite unit of the Lower Elements Police) for ransom, but are well prepared when her pointy-eared compatriots rush to the rescue with a combination of old magic and futuristic high technology. In the ensuing battle, fought as much with wits as weapons, Fowl proves himself a brilliant strategist, if not quite as dastardly or self-confident as he’d like to be, and thanks to what amounts to a magical technicality, he comes out of the dustup alive, with a half-ton of fairy gold, and even a wish (which he puts to good use). Though the violence occasionally turns brutal, Fowl and Short make splendid, well-matched rivals, supported by an inspired cast that includes huge rogue trolls, malicious goblins, an irreverent techie satyr, and kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggins—all of whom are likely to reappear in sequels that are even now underway.
Readers familiar with Sherlock Holmes, as well as an array of modern fantasists from Roald Dahl on, will find plenty of homage paid in this savagely funny page-turner. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0801-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
SEEN & HEARD
Clears the bar for horse fanciers.
Seventh grader Abby St. Clair manages friend drama and competition at school and on her riding team in the lead-up to a big horse show.
In this third series entry (which readers can jump into midstride), Abby sees winning the upcoming horse show at Canterwood Crest Academy in Connecticut as a big step toward her goal of becoming a career equestrian. But conflict with her teammates poses more of an obstacle than her riding skills do. Abby and her enemies on the team, Nina and Selly, had a fight at the last competition and are being closely monitored by their coach, Rebecca. On top of that, Abby’s best friends, Thea and Vivi (established in earlier entries as Korean American and Black, respectively), seem to be excluding her. Abby also initially bungles how she handles her crush on new girl Mila. At least she’s made up with her stepsister, Emery. At Canterwood, Abby meets Sasha Silver, one of her heroes, whose winter riding clinic she applied for—but Sasha reveals that someone tried to sabotage her application. Abby’s team experiences more surprises during the event, setting things up for the next entry. Parents are mostly absent from the narrative; Abby talks to her dad via FaceTime. The dialogue and social media use are realistic, the pacing is snappy, and the equestrian details are accurate. Most characters read white.
Clears the bar for horse fanciers. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781665912990
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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