Is it really paranoia if the monsters turn out to be real?
Twelve-year-old Charlie Oughtt’s overactive imagination can supply a frightening or deadly outcome to any situation. His younger sister, Georgie, however, is ready for anything. When children in their gaslit Victorian neighborhood begin to vanish, their widowed mother begins acting strangely and talking of sending them to stay with their grandmother…but both their grandmothers are dead. No matter; off they go. Charlie naturally fears the worst, but Grandmother Opal and Grandmother Pearl’s farm and what lurks beneath it make Charlie’s most terrifying nightmares look like pleasant daydreams. The grandmothers (it turns out there are many of them) separate the children and assign strange tasks and punishments. Then Georgie vanishes…and when Charlie goes looking, he uncovers a terrifying plot. Can Charlie summon the inner courage to save Georgie and the other missing children from a dream-devouring menace that threatens the whole world? Following Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow (2011), Towell’s sophomore effort is a slow-ish, Gothic-y adventure. The main characters are stock, but the surrounding cast of monsters is satisfyingly creepy, and they are really the point anyway. The eerie line drawings have the effect of a high school literary magazine, but they add to the unsettling atmosphere.
Snicket-lite without the clever wordplay, it’s a ghoulish though not gross thriller. (Horror. 8-11)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-375-86860-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL
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This sequel to The Lemonade War (2007), picking up just a few days later, focuses on how the fourth graders take justice into their own hands after learning that the main suspect in the case of the missing lemonade-stand money now owns the latest in game-box technology.
Siblings Evan and Jessie (who skipped third grade because of her precocity) are sure Scott Spencer stole the $208 from Evan’s shorts and want revenge, especially as Scott’s new toy makes him the most popular kid in class, despite his personal shortcomings. Jessie’s solution is to orchestrate a full-blown trial by jury after school, while Evan prefers to challenge Scott in basketball. Neither channel proves satisfactory for the two protagonists (whose rational and emotional reactions are followed throughout the third-person narrative), though, ultimately, the matter is resolved. Set during the week of Yom Kippur, the story raises beginning questions of fairness, integrity, sin and atonement. Like John Grisham's Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (2010), much of the book is taken up with introducing courtroom proceedings for a fourth-grade level of understanding. Chapter headings provide definitions (“due diligence,” “circumstantial evidence,” etc.) and explanation cards/documents drawn by Jessie are interspersed.
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage with the characters enough to care about how the justice actually pans out. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-27967-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Ryan Hart is navigating the fourth grade and all its challenges with determination.
Her mom named her Ryan because it means “king,” and she wanted Ryan to feel powerful every time she heard her name; Ryan knows it means she is a leader. So when changes occur or disaster strikes, budding chef Ryan does her best to find the positive and “make sunshine.” When her dad is laid off from the post office, the family must make adjustments that include moving into a smaller house, selling their car, and changing how they shop for groceries. But Ryan gets to stay at Vernon Elementary, and her mom still finds a way to get her the ingredients she needs to practice new recipes. Her older brother, Ray, can be bossy, but he finds little ways to support her, especially when she is down—as does the whole family. Each episodic chapter confronts Ryan with a situation; intermittently funny, frustrating, and touching, they should be familiar and accessible to readers, as when Ryan fumbles her Easter speech despite careful practice. Ryan, her family, and friends are Black, and Watson continues to bring visibility to both Portland, Oregon, generally and its Black community specifically, making another wonderful contribution that allows Black readers to see themselves and all readers to find a character they can love.
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet! (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0056-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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