The six members of the Clearview Middle School Mad Science Club are inadvertently brought together during an after-school registration snafu. Claire Phelps, twin and mentally challenged sister, Kathleen, and friend Ji Eun Oh are all signed up by science teacher, Mr. Ennis, after being sent to the office for a classroom disruption. Brandon Kelly, still grieving his mother’s accidental death, wants to be in basketball but is placed in Mad Science by the principal who is also his grandmother. Marina Krenina, newly arrived from Russia, with minimal English skills that prevent her from understanding the application, is assigned to the club after she copies the only interested and science-oriented participant in the group, Benjamin Lloyd. The club’s charge is to prepare a science project for the school’s fair in January. After much complaining and lack of interest, the group settles on the subject of ESP and whether it really exists. Newcomer Grunwell has created a short character-based plot using a variety of formats similar to the cleverly created scenarios by Kate Klise (Regarding the Fountain, 1998, etc.). Each student’s unique personality and emotional situation are briefly explored through the contributing reports, data, and newspaper articles for the science project. Unlike the mystery, suspense, and humor that Klise provides, this story lacks a compelling theme to maintain an interest even as the last half neatly ties all the students and their thoughts together through their conclusive results for their winning project. A good source list of actual adult and children’s publications related to the subject is included as part of the report’s bibliography and will be appreciated by those who remain curious and attentive enough to read through the whole story. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: April 21, 2003
ISBN: 0-618-17672-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003
After witnessing the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, Daniel is suddenly transported, at age 14, from his comfortable life in Frankfurt to a Polish ghetto, then to Auschwitz and Buchenwald—losing most of his family along the way, seeing Nazi brutality of both the casual and the calculated kind, and recording atrocities with a smuggled camera (``What has happened to me?...Who am I? Where am I going?''). Matas, explicating an exhibit of photos and other materials at the new United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, creates a convincing composite youth and experience—fictional but carefully based on survivors' accounts. It's a savage story with no attempt to soften the culpability of the German people; Daniel's profound anger is easier to understand than is his father's compassion or his sister's plea to ``chose love. Always choose love.'' Daniel survives to be reunited, after the war, with his wife-to-be, but his dying friend's last word echoes beyond the happy ending: ``Remember...'' An unusual undertaking, effectively carried out. Chronology; glossary. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-590-46920-7
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993
The Pumpkin Book (32 pp.; $16.95; Sept. 15; 0-8234-1465-5): From seed to vine and blossom to table, Gibbons traces the growth cycle of everyone’s favorite autumn symbol—the pumpkin. Meticulous drawings detail the transformation of tiny seeds to the colorful gourds that appear at roadside stands and stores in the fall. Directions for planting a pumpkin patch, carving a jack-o’-lantern, and drying the seeds give young gardeners the instructions they need to grow and enjoy their own golden globes. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1465-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
