Riveting historical fiction that will enrich and delight the audience.
In this middle-grade novel, a girl learns about her Black Seminole heritage.
Mia Bryant isn’t quite sure where she’s going. Her mom and dad have put the 11-year-old and her best friend, Paisley, into the family car and are taking them on a surprise trip—despite the stormy South Florida weather. Mia and Paisley barely look up from their phones when the family arrives at a building in the middle of nowhere, but the world inside is captivating. The building houses a museum about Mia and her father’s ancestors, the Black Seminoles. The Native American tribe, based in Georgia and Florida, historically took in enslaved people on the run. Mia is a direct descendant of Talula (“one who leaps water”), the spirited daughter of an African American man and a Seminole woman, who lived with the tribe in Spanish Florida. Mia learns that Talula loved to chase dragonflies and spoke multiple languages but longed to trade her traditional female chores for those that involved riding horses and wielding a bow and arrow. As the War of 1812 began, the peace in Talula’s village was threatened—with her Black father a major target—and the girl’s adventurous warrior spirit was put to the ultimate test. Meanwhile, in the modern day, Mia is inspired by Talula’s story. But soon after Mia watches it on film, a natural disaster strikes and she must be braver than she ever imagined. Anne, a prolific author and Florida resident who is of African and Indigenous descent, presents a series opener that is both well researched and well written. The author engages the audience with a dual perspective narration that’s exciting, suspenseful, and socially conscious, though not preachy. Anne supplements the little-known history of the Black Seminoles depicted in the novel with a short glossary of terms and additional information on real-life people and events after the story concludes. Though Mia only appears at the tale’s beginning and end, she’s a relatable young girl who finds her inner strength. The bulk of the unique book belongs to Talula, whose heroic actions will inspire young and older readers.
Riveting historical fiction that will enrich and delight the audience.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73626-886-5
Page Count: 133
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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