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
Year-round fun.
Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”
This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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