Preteens who are star-struck for Broadway will enjoy the drama
Lulu’s dreams are big for a little mouse: starring on Broadway.
Lulu lives in the very best house, the Schubert Theatre, on West 44th Street. Her passion is to perform on stage. In a first-person narrative, the little mouse interacts with and assists the cast and crew backstage. Her ability to speak English and her full acceptance despite her rodent nature are givens. The drama of the story revolves around a self-centered child performer, who rarely misses a performance and whom Lulu does not like because she is full of “Sugarcoated meanness,” and the very friendly understudy who decides to chuck it all and go home to New Jersey. Can the new understudy overcome her stage fright? Spoiler alert: Dreams can come true for performers of all sizes. Lulu writes with a very chatty, insider’s point of view (the author made her debut on Broadway in Gypsy with Bernadette Peters and author Tim Federle) and tosses out references to Broadway luminaries such as Stephen Sondheim and Elaine Stritch along with shows such as Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver!, and Wicked. Cast and crew default to white, with one Italian-American and one guy who “dates men” but flirts with women singled out. Gavigan concludes her tale with a list of recommendations about New York City, proper theater behavior, and how to live your own theatrical dream.
Preteens who are star-struck for Broadway will enjoy the drama . (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7624-6461-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Running Press
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 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.
