A clunky but well-meant series kickoff featuring, as the subtitle has it, “The World’s Best Underachiever.” Already in hot water for being tardy on his first day, Hank digs himself a deeper hole by presenting his “summer vacation” report not as a written essay (writing being torture for him), but a model of Niagara Falls—which proceeds to flood the classroom. He gets zero slack from teacher, Principal, or even his parents—until the music teacher with whom he spends his lengthy detention suggests that he be tested for “learning differences.” Aha! Strongly assured that doesn’t mean he’s stupid, Hank shows his creative flair again at the end, by helping his multiethnic circle of friends put on a magic show for seniors. Thoroughly typecast characters, plus Hank’s tendency to overexplain, make the earnestness outshine the plot. There’s no actual note to parents, but there might as well be, as this is plainly meant to be a consciousness-raiser about learning disabilities for both children and adults. The celebrity co-author may draw some of the former. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-448-43232-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Andy Anderson, 11, is unhappy when he learns that he's been traded to Coach Lou Richards's team in the Squirt division of his local hockey league, but his anxieties soon prove unnecessary. Coach Lou dreams up the idea of giving his players scary Russian names, and turns out to be every boy's ideal: a big-hearted, patient, high-spirited guy who never blows his stack and who ends the season with a pizza party at the local bowling alley. While Coach Lou might sound too good to be true, he blends in nicely with the rest of the too-good-to-be-true realm; except for the references to rap music and in-line skates, the setting bears little resemblance to contemporary America. Bowman is at her best when describing the action on the ice, but the rest of this reads like a sugar-coated fantasy: Andy's family—parents, cute younger sister, athletic older brother—moved across town last year for a reason that defies reality for most readers: to be nearer the tennis club where Andy's brother plays. Andy's parents, with their straight-A, church-going son, are infinitely patient; Andy's pals are tagged with names like Mike Hanson, Jamie Jones, Duffy Conners, Billy Peterson, Denny Smith, and Jimmy Cleaver, and none of them emerges from the pack. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8028-5087-1
Page Count: 141
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
A fairy helps disperse the clouds gathering over a family in this lightweight debut. Nathan, 12, and his younger sister, Jessie, adore their cantankerous, octogenarian grandfather, and worry that, if bossy Aunt Louise gets her way, he'll be consigned to a nursing home. The situation becomes dicier when a psychologist arrives armed with a battery of tests, and Gramps, cleaning his windshield after a trip to the country, finds a dragonfly-sized fairy, injured but still alive. Agreeing to keep the discovery secret, Nathan, Jessie, and Gramps nurse the fairy back to health and eventually transport her and her newborn back to their pond—all the while struggling to project an air of innocent normality. The fairy falls somewhere between Tinkerbell and a wild creature; silent except for chirps, tame enough to perch on a finger, she seems in no hurry to escape, and doesn't even really seem to notice humans until the very end. Does she work magic? Though the children's wishes have a way of coming true, and Gramps is finally judged mentally sound, Gold leaves the question open. Too many stock characters and predictable situations keep this well below the level of such books as Luli Gray's Falcon's Egg (1995), but the mild suspense and breath of magic may please some. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-689-31938-X
Page Count: 133
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1997
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