Four feisty kids, one wily fish, creepy bayou atmosphere and a whopper of a tale.
Four kids in rural Mississippi set out to catch an enormous, legendary catfish that gives them the chase of their lives in what can only be called “one heck of a fish tale.”
Since their father died in Vietnam, 12-year-old Sawyer and 9-year-old Elvira help their mother, Rose, run the family’s catfish farm. After a catfish bites Rose’s finger and swallows her wedding ring, she becomes ill. When Sawyer hears about Ol’ One Eye, the “biggest, oldest, smartest, and meanest durn cat that ever swum the Yazoo,” he falls under the mythic “Catfish Time” and believes if he catches Ol’ One Eye, he will find Rose’s missing ring and she will improve. Armed with a map, poles, tackle, a rowboat, bologna sandwiches and spunk, Sawyer, his best friend, his cousin and stowaway Elvira paddle up the Yazoo seeking the phantom catfish. Told in an easygoing, colloquial style, the fast-paced plot carries readers and the four unsuspecting pals along at a rapid clip as they chase and are chased by a humongous, predatory catfish that leads them through a deserted plantation and into a submerged riverboat. Realistic black-and-white spot art reinforces the fishing theme.
Four feisty kids, one wily fish, creepy bayou atmosphere and a whopper of a tale. (map) (Adventure. 10-14)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7614-6223-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when...
Two sisters make an unauthorized expedition to their former hometown and in the process bring together the two parts of their divided family.
Dooley packs plenty of emotion into this eventful road trip, which takes place over the course of less than 24 hours. Twelve-year-old Ophelia, nicknamed Fella, and her 16-year-old sister, Zoey Grace, aka Zany, are the daughters of a lesbian couple, Shannon and Lacy, who could not legally marry. The two white girls squabble and share memories as they travel from West Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina, where Zany is determined to scatter Mama Lacy’s ashes in accordance with her wishes. The year is 2004, before the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and the girls have been separated by hostile, antediluvian custodial laws. Fella’s present-tense narration paints pictures not just of the difficulties they face on the trip (a snowstorm, car trouble, and an unlikely thief among them), but also of their lives before Mama Lacy’s illness and of the ways that things have changed since then. Breathless and engaging, Fella’s distinctive voice is convincingly childlike. The conversations she has with her sister, as well as her insights about their relationship, likewise ring true. While the girls face serious issues, amusing details and the caring adults in their lives keep the tone relatively light.
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when Fella’s family figures out how to come together in a new way . (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-16504-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
A compassionate glimpse of mental illness accessible to a broad audience. (Fiction. 10-14)
A middle school story in which parental depression manifests itself in absence.
Natalie’s vivacious botanist mother (who’s white) has retreated from life, leaving her therapist husband (who’s biracial) and daughter to fill the gaping hole she has left. With the help of an egg-drop contest and a scientific-method project, Natalie explores breakable things and the nurturing of hope. Narrating in first-person, the mixed-race seventh-grader (1/4 Korean and 3/4 white) is drawn to her mother’s book, titled How to Grow A Miracle. It reminds her of when her mother was excited by science and questions and life. With a STEM-inspired chapter framework and illustrated with Neonakis’ scientific drawings, Keller’s debut novel uses the scientific method to unpack the complex emotions depression can cause. Momentum builds over nine months as Natalie observes, questions, researches, experiments, and analyzes clues to her mother’s state of mind. Providing support and some comic relief are her two sidekicks, Dari (a smart Indian immigrant boy) and Twig (Natalie’s wealthy, white best friend). The diversity of the characters provides identity and interest, not issue or plotline. Tension peaks at the egg-drop contest, as the three friends plan to use the prize winnings to bring Natalie’s mother back to life with a gift of a rare cobalt blue orchid. Paralleling their scientific progress, Natalie reluctantly experiences her first visits to talk therapy, slowly opening like a tight bloom.
A compassionate glimpse of mental illness accessible to a broad audience. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1566-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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