Those who love dogs, relish humor, and understand not fitting in will adore McNamee’s (Hate You, 1999) novel about fourth graders Keath (a.k.a. Whitey, etc.), his best friend Lynda (a.k.a. Zebra), and Lynda’s maimed beagle, Leftovers (a.k.a. Predator). Attending a nearly all-black school downtown makes Keath prey to bullies like sharp-jointed Toothpick. If he looked like everybody else, Keath wouldn’t be their main target, but as it is, a friend tells him, “You the worm, man.” The bullies also hassle Lynda, daughter of a black, veterinarian mom and white, dog-walker dad. Keath, who can’t resist or own dogs, meets Lynda as she carries “a shopping bag full of dog turds” behind her dad’s canine cluster. Adults in this hugely readable book’s cast of beautifully realized characters adroitly help Keath manage being a “freak.” Mom’s loving support, Dad’s sensitive advice, and Gran’s determined, post-stroke, one-handed efforts to create an origami frog that hops only to produce one that does “nothing but back flips” allow Keath to get over being creeped out by differences. When Leftovers wins a silver medal in a special dog show, Keath thinks it possible to “be like Leftovers and fit in in my own way”—but he still wants to be a golden retriever when he grows up. Viva la difference! is the inchoate, incalculably valuable message, sent via consummate craft, upbeat tone, and in-your-face humor in this deft, deep book. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32755-2
Page Count: 134
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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