The third installment in this cheery little series set in the town of Ghastly adds several new characters: siblings Kitty and Kanine Breth and a dog loud enough to wake the dead. Once again, the sisters Klise deliver their story through letters, newspaper articles, notes and transcripts, all illustrated with M. Sarah Klise’s delightfully imaginative drawings. Seymour finds a dog, which everyone knows was owned by the recently deceased Noah Breth and which Seymour intends to keep. The dog, “Secret,” barks all night, however, disturbing even ghosts. Shadow the cat disappears, while Olive and Ignatius begin squabbling. Attempting to restore harmony, Seymour takes Secret and leaves. Meanwhile, the greedy heirs of Noah Breth arrive to squabble over his fortune. Rare coins keep turning up all over town. Everyone looks for Seymour and Secret. As always, the authors keep readers giggling with the clever, usually death-related names invented for their characters (M. Balm, Fay Tality and Mike Ondolences). Phrases turn nicely as well: During a written and rather heated conversation between Ignatius and Olive, she writes, “I refuse to continue this conversation if you’re going to raise your font at me.” Good, merry fun dances on every page, with bubbling humor for child and adult alike. (Humor. 8-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-40036-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Long on canine fun but short on the treatment of the serious (and central) topic of death.
Thirteen-year-old Ash Tompkins likes skateboarding, BMX biking, his friends, and his cat, Suki, but despite all these good things, Ash has had a tough year.
His mom is busy studying and working. Pop, his grandad with whom he had a close relationship, has died. And Ash recently got caught vandalizing an abandoned warehouse with friends. As a result, he’s sent on a ferry away from the city to spend the summer on nearby Ferncliff Island with his father and stepfamily, where he’ll do community service at the animal shelter. The plot focuses on Ash as he bonds with his younger stepsister, Parker, learns how to handle dogs, and deals with grief over the loss of his favorite shelter dog, Cooper. The story provides useful and interesting dog-related information that’s tinged with humor, such as a fecal scoring chart used to gather data on shelter dogs, but it doesn’t delve into the connection between the losses of Pop and Cooper, which are central to Ash’s growth. Varner uses an appealing, limited color palette of gray for flashbacks and blue for the present. Splashes of yellow signal strong emotions, highlight sound effect words, and spotlight the dogs Ash meets. Variations in the panel structure, including trapezoid-shaped cells and ones without borders, add interest and meaning to the reading experience. Ash presents white, and his stepmother and Parker read Black.
Long on canine fun but short on the treatment of the serious (and central) topic of death. (author’s note, cover sketches) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250225900
Page Count: 304
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Love might not last forever, but it can certainly teach an old dog new tricks.
Cosmo has the soul of a dancer. There’s just one problem—dogs can’t dance…can they?
Ever since Mom and Dad picked him out of the litter 13 years ago, Cosmo has vowed to protect the Walker family, whom he loves more than anything, until his dying day. Trouble lurks, however, behind the household’s closed doors. Mom and Dad are fighting more and more, leaving 12-year-old Max, his younger sister, Emmaline, and Cosmo scared and confused, wary of the dreaded d-word, divorce, hounding their heels. When Mom’s brother, Reggie, returns from Afghanistan and brings Max and Cosmo to a special club for dogs, the inseparable pair discovers that dancing may be the only way to try and hold the family together. Cosmo must battle shyness, the pains of age, and demonic neighborhood sheepdogs (both real and imagined) to try and save what he and Max love most. Cosmo’s narration combines wit, heart, stubbornness, and a grouchy dignity, all ably tugging at funny bones and heartstrings alike. Sorosiak’s author’s note is a joyful celebration of dogs’ hidden humanity, one that’s reflected in her joyfully and painfully realistic tale of a struggling family and doggedly persistent canine companion. The family itself is biracial (white dad, black mom), and both kids have brown skin and curly black hair.
Love might not last forever, but it can certainly teach an old dog new tricks. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0769-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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