Nine-year-old Eleanor discovers that it’s possible to like some things about sleep-away camp.
She thought she would like Camp Wallumwahpuck. Her mother liked it, after all. But the big bus she has to ride from Brooklyn is scary, and the buggy, too-quiet woods even worse. There’s no food she likes, and she has to wear a life jacket to jump on the floating trampoline. The story of Eleanor’s gradual adjustment is believably told in short lines of first-person narration and dialogue. Kids will find her worries familiar ones. Each short chapter describes a distinct episode and is liberally illustrated with Cordell’s line drawings, which sometimes show the unhappy camper and other times highlight small details. This title has the heft and substance of a chapter book but is surprisingly accessible. Its story stands alone. Readers will not need to have met Eleanor in Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie (2011), but as in Sternberg’s earlier story, letter-writing plays an important role. Adults are sympathetic and encouraging, and even her cabin mates, at first thoughtless and indifferent, become supporters. In a note on the camp’s Wall of Feelings, she discovers that someone else shares her discomfort: “But I don’t need to love it / I just need to survive it.” Eleanor doesn’t just survive, she grows. Readers will celebrate and look forward to more. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0190-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful tool for education, comfort and, one hopes, healing.
A graphic novel tackles the difficult subject of a young girl witnessing domestic violence.
In stark, direct prose, readers are immediately made aware of Julia’s situation: “All my life my parents fought. I thought fighting was normal.” Julia wants desperately to tell someone (“ ‘My dad hits my mom.’ Wow! What if I said that out loud?”) but is afraid of losing one or both of her parents. Luckily, she and her mom get help. They move first to a shelter and eventually to safe housing to start their new life. Morgan, a counselor at a Canadian service for victims of domestic abuse, dips into many of the emotions that swirl around this topic. Sadness, fear, guilt; in one instance Julia and her mom say good night to each other in their new home, and in a much smaller thought bubble, as if she is ashamed, Julia quietly thinks “Good night, Dad.” Can it be OK to miss someone who has caused so much harm? In the end, Julia is allowed to visit her dad on weekends, but she cannot tell him where she lives. In its loose, graphic-novel presentation, the art, while uneven at times, serves as a strong vehicle for such emotions. Julia’s complete journey is portrayed in a mere 32 pages, which could seem rushed, but to a child who sees him- or herself in any part of this story, it could be a lifeline to hold on to.
A powerful tool for education, comfort and, one hopes, healing. (Graphic novel. 7-9)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4595-0283-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Formac
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
This series opener is a promising venture into early Matt Christopher territory.
When a mysterious saboteur threatens to shut down their school’s Olympic games, five young athletes put on their detective shoes.
Classmates Max, Alice, Nico, and twins Luke and Kat—a diverse crew, to judge from Brundage’s introductory portrait gallery and frequent, realistically drawn illustrations—are looking forward to their respective events in Franklin Elementary’s upcoming annual Olympics. But someone is sending threatening notes to the faculty organizers, and once the games begin, oiled grass on the relay route and a tug of war rope that is partially cut lead to dangerous falls. Who could the culprit be? Gathering fingerprints and other evidence, the young sleuths work together to eliminate one suspect and at last catch another red-handed. They are less successful in winning medals, but at the ensuing ceremony they earn a special “MVP” award for saving the games and decide to form a club. Along with plenty of sports action and sterling detective work to appreciate, Kelly offers readers a chance to ponder the contrast between the priorities of the culprit, a multimedalist from the previous year jealously unwilling to be upstaged, and Nico, who abruptly quits a race he’s about to win when he spots the saboteur at work. A quick set of facts and photos from the official Olympic Games cap this series opener.
This series opener is a promising venture into early Matt Christopher territory. (Mystery/sports fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: May 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-51319-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
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