An innocuous Halloween and Day of the Dead book for readers who prefer to skip scarier fare.
In this bilingual book, a young girl finds a surprise upon returning from a trip to Guanajuato, Mexico.
Going back to school after a two-week vacation, fourth-grader Flor discovers a mummy named Rafael, who snuck into her backpack at a museum. Rafael, who tells Flor and her best friend Lupita to call him Rafa, had always “wanted to see los Estados Unidos.” The mummy’s delight with his new surroundings is dampened when he realizes that he will miss the Day of the Dead, the one day when his family comes to visit him at the museum. With help from the school custodian, Mr. García, Flor and Lupita concoct a plan to return Rafa to his museum home before the special day arrives. Of course, many obstacles stand in the way of their goal, but everything falls into place eventually. Luna moves the story along at a nice clip, with a text heavy on dialogue and short on description. One disappointing aspect is Flor and Lupita’s continuous ill treatment of the pesky Sandra, whose slightly annoying actions seem much less offensive than their mean-spirited reactions. The Spanish translation follows the original English version. (Illustrations were not seen.)
An innocuous Halloween and Day of the Dead book for readers who prefer to skip scarier fare. (Adventure. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55885-756-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.
Hannah Hadley is a young special agent who must thwart a clear and present danger to the United States in Hoover’s “smart is cool” young adult novel.
Hannah Hadley might seem like most 13-year-old girls. She enjoys painting, playing with her MP3 player and spending time with friends. But that’s where the similarities end. Hadley doubles as Agent 10-1, among the youngest spies drafted into the CIA’s Div Y department. She’s joined in her missions by her 10-pound Shih Tzu, Kiwi (with whom she communicates telepathically), and her best friend Tommie Claire, a blind girl with heightened senses. When duty calls, the group sneaks to a hidden command center located under the floor of Hadley’s art studio. Her current mission, aptly named “Operation Farmer Jones,” takes her to a secluded farmhouse in Canada. There, al-Qaida terrorists have gathered the necessary ingredients for a particularly devastating nuclear warhead that they intend to fire into America. The villains are joined by the Mad Madam of Mayhem, a physicist for hire whom the terrorists force to complete the weapon of mass destruction. With Charlie Higson’s Young James Bond series and the ongoing 39 Clues novellas, covert missions and secret plans are the plots of choice in much of today’s fiction for young readers, and references to the famed 007 stories abound in Hoover’s tale. But while the plot feels familiar, Hoover’s use of modern slang—albeit strained at times—and gadgets such as the iTouch appeal to today’s youth. Placing girls in adult situations has been a mainstay since Mildred Wirt Benson first introduced readers to Nancy Drew in The Secret of the Old Clock, but Hannah Hadley is like Nancy Drew on steroids. Both are athletic, score well in their studies and have a measure of popularity. Hadley, however, displays a genius-level intellect and near superhuman abilities in her efforts to roust the terrorists—handy skills for a young teen spy who just so happens to get the best grades in school.
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0615419688
Page Count: 239
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The author of What a Truly Cool World (1999) twangs his silly bone again, producing six fables that are well south of serious, though carrying kernels of truth. Several are "lost and found" tales, as in "Ellen the Eagle Finds Her Place in the World," modeling for the government—because she's afraid of heights. There's Bernard the bee, who unexpectedly finds true love even though he's lost his buzz, and "Anna the Angry Ant," who finds herself with a permanent stomach ache after losing her temper and swallowing an anaconda. Chollat makes her US debut with a set of stylized, postmodern illustrations whose bright hues are picked up by colored words or lines in the facing text. Lester's distinctive way with words is fully in evidence here—“What would a bee be without a buzz? My goodness! A bee without a buzz would be a been. A bee without a buzz would be a used-to-be bee who was now a been. So Bernard buzzed his buzz a couple of times and was happy to see that his buzz was as buzzy as it always was"—and he closes each tale with a double moral: "1. You are what you think you are and not what others think you aren't. 2. When you're in Vermont, WATCH OUT FOR THE ALLIGATOR." There's a lot of text on these oversized pages, much of it asking for a sophisticated comprehension. So the format is deceptively young-looking and might throw off the child who could understand the jokes. Readers who find Aesop's fables stodgy and Jon Scieszka's incomprehensible might want to have a go at these. (Illustrated fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-590-48913-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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