A lively novel that explores the inner conflicts and group dynamics that tweens often reckon with.
Participating in sports leads to unexpected issues—and lessons—for 12-year-old Shayla, the conflict-averse protagonist of A Good Kind of Trouble (2019), who returns in this stand-alone sequel.
Despite some misgivings, Shayla is pressured into joining a summer track club, but she’s so insecure about her abilities that she discourages her family from attending meets. Her reluctance to speak her mind also leads to her being caught up in teammates’ pranks. While navigating the club’s competitive atmosphere and some difficult personalities, she attempts to stay in touch with her best friends. Shayla, who’s Black, is part of a BFF trio—the self-styled “United Nations”—with Japanese American Julia and Puerto Rican Isabella, but the other girls aren’t around much this summer. Shayla’s older sister will be leaving for college soon, and worryingly, their relationship feels prickly. Shayla’s friend Bernard convinces her to join him in pulling a prank on her own team, a decision that has consequences neither of them could have foreseen. Shayla knows she must overcome her feeling of being “allergic to trouble” to atone for what she’s done. Ramée successfully weaves themes of friendship, sports, social responsibility, and family into this engaging coming-of-age story. Shayla’s journal features quotations from famous Black women, a seamless way of sharing the insights she gains with readers. Shayla’s voice, dilemmas, and African American cultural grounding are authentic and highly relatable.
A lively novel that explores the inner conflicts and group dynamics that tweens often reckon with. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026
ISBN: 9780063460805
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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