A sprawling, good-hearted adventure—pure fun.
In the sequel to The Troubles of Johnny Cannon (2014), Johnny Cannon’s life in little Cullman, Alabama, is anything but peaceful.
What Johnny would like more than anything is a “happy ending” (a kiss, that is) with seventh-grade schoolmate Martha Macker. But their relationship is up and down, and she resents being treated differently from Johnny’s best friend, Willie, just because she’s a girl. Willie’s friendship is more consistent and steadfast, anyway, and comes in quite handy when Johnny’s life is in danger. See, it turns out that Johnny has a Havana Mafia boss as a lifelong enemy, a man out to kill Johnny to avenge the death of his wife. It’s complicated, a story with roots in the Bay of Pigs invasion, organized crime, the Cosa Nostra, and the CIA. So, Johnny is figuring out how to stay alive, stay in love, and stay friends with Willie, whose African-American community, the Colony, seems always threatened. Campbell’s over-the-top tall tale is, at its heart, a story of friendship, happy endings, and happy beginnings. And, though this installment seems very much like the first volume, readers with a taste for a folksy Southern yarn laced with a good deal of deadly Mafia machinations will find themselves swept once again into Johnny’s oddball world.
A sprawling, good-hearted adventure—pure fun. (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2631-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Eminently readable and appealing; will tug at dog-loving readers’ heartstrings.
A loquacious, lovable dog narrates the challenges of shelter life as he longs for a home.
Friendly three-legged Chance is the perfect guide to Dogtown, a shelter that houses both warmblooded and robot dogs. In fact, she’s “Management’s lucky charm,” roaming freely without being confined to a cage and leaving kibble for her mouse friend. Life is pretty good. But she still yearns for reunification with her family and, like many of the living pups, harbors suspicion of her robot counterparts, who are convenient and more easily adoptable but lacking in personality. When Metal Head, an oddly engineered e-dog, bonds with a child during a shelter reading program, Chance’s assumptions about heartless robot dogs are upended. As Chance connects with Metal Head, the two make a brief escape into the wider world, and Chance learns a familiar lesson: Everyone longs for a place to belong. Memories of Chance’s happy home loom large in her mind: Easy days with the Bessers, a sweet Black family, were disrupted by a neglectful dogsitter, the accident that cost Chance her leg, and Chance’s flight in search of safety. Chance’s chatty narrative style includes flashbacks, vignettes about fellow shelter pets, and thoughtful observations, for example, about the “boohoos,” or sad new arrivals. The story offers many moments of laughter and reflection, all greatly enhanced by West’s utterly charming grayscale illustrations of irresistible pooches.
Eminently readable and appealing; will tug at dog-loving readers’ heartstrings. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781250811608
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
Enchanting.
Neglected and uprooted, an 11-year-old finds a surprising new family.
Gwen MacKinnon has been sent to live with Great-Uncle Matthew in Massachusetts while her father sorts out a new apartment in St. Louis after splitting with his third wife and her mother moves to Costa Rica with her boyfriend. Uncertain about her future, Gwen finds solace in knowing that a library in her new town shares her name: the MacKinnon Library. What she doesn’t know is that the children’s section of this library is populated by the Lahdukan, small, winged people with turquoise hair who can only be seen and heard by children under 7—and, surprisingly, Gwen. Great-Uncle Matthew thinks the Lahdukan are a game of pretend that the children play, but they’re real, and they’re in trouble. Their library home is undergoing construction, and they must find a new place to live. The Lahdukan thrive on archaic prophesies, one of which has told of the coming of a new Qalba—a human girl from the MacKinnon family who will help their clan. Much to Gwen’s shock, the Lahdukan tell her she’s the new Qalba. Birdsall gives the coming-of-age theme a fresh spin in her inventive story, one that’s filled with endearing, quirky characters and delicious intrigue involving Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Phelan’s lively black-and-white illustrations add visual interest. Gwen and Great-Uncle Matthew appear to be white.
Enchanting. (author’s note, pronunciation guide) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9780525579045
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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