Dishes up a tasty round of youthful derring-do with several meaty topics on the side.
The popular chef invites readers on a food-filled quest to save both our planet and a magic forest.
Waking to a savory bacon sandwich served by his publican mother, 9 ½-year-old Billy throws off the sheets and rises to join his best friends on a venture into mysterious Waterfall Woods. Intrepid Anna grew up in foster care before being adopted; Andy has earned his nickname, the Fart Blaster; and avid naturalist Jimmy, who moved to the village from London, is Black in a human cast that otherwise appears white. While stopping to share yummy smoked salmon and other snacks, the kids meet Basil the Sprite and go on to a quick series of exploits, including exposing an illegal operation that is polluting the local river while turning factory-farmed turkeys into pink slime nuggets. Billy finds a way to approach more common challenges too, such as coping with his reading and attention difficulties at school. Along with plenty of spot art and some snigger-inducing scenes, such as one showing Anna lighting up one of Andy’s humungous blasts, Armiño strews lively, full-page views of the pals grabbing a bite, hanging out in a spacious treehouse, or marveling at a flock of Sprites. Oliver dangles several open threads to spice up interest in future episodes, leaves his Everylad chowing down on a luscious ploughman’s lunch, and tempts further kitchen exploits with a trio of recipes.
Dishes up a tasty round of youthful derring-do with several meaty topics on the side. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781774884140
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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