An insightful, slice-of-life look at growing up while being true to oneself.
Bea is excited to reunite with her camp friends and cabin mates, Roxy and Virginia, over the summer after seventh grade.
But before long, Bea becomes upset by her friends’ reminders of her previous reliance on her stuffed rabbit, Roger, to face social situations. At 13, Bea and her friends are now Froglings, the oldest kids at Camp Chordata, and they quickly discover that, since the camp is “super understaffed,” this status comes with less supervision and guidance during activities. They and the two other Froglings are also asked to take on additional responsibilities with younger campers, which doesn’t feel fair. Between her disappointment over the way the Froglings are being treated and Virginia’s comments about “the Old Bea,” Bea finds herself regretting coming back. The story moves at a rapid pace while still keeping the characters’ emotions front and center. Readers will relate to Bea’s desire to grow and change without being continually compared to her past self. Montague explores healthy communication and the importance of learning to love yourself at every stage of your life as the friends work through relationship hiccups. Her clean, boldly executed art accentuates the girls’ expressively drawn faces. Bea has curly brown hair and brown skin, Roxy has tan skin and blond hair, and Virginia has dark brown skin and red hair.
An insightful, slice-of-life look at growing up while being true to oneself. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9780593806265
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 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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