An emotionally intelligent preteen summer camp adventure.
Rising seventh grader Beatrice prefers to spend time in her room talking to her stuffed animals, especially her favorite one, a rabbit named Roger.
So, when Bea’s father tells her he’s signed her up for a weeklong summer camp, that’s the last thing she wants to do. After her dad promises that if she agrees to go just this once, she’ll never have to go back, she reluctantly agrees. When Bea arrives at Camp Chordata, she meets her “nest mates,” Virginia and Roxy. Virginia notices Bea holding Roger and snidely asks, “Aren’t we a little old to carry around stuffed animals?” She adds, “You will be judged for carrying that around.” Unfortunately, Virginia is proven to be right, but a cute boy stands up for her. Over the course of the week, the girls struggle with learning to be friends as each battles personal problems. The narrative moves quickly, but Montague delves effectively into a range of topics such as jealousy, bullying, insecurity, and divorce. The story offers readers a thoughtful perspective on how you never know exactly what someone might be dealing with based on outward appearances. All three girls have brown skin; Bea has curly brown hair, Virginia (whose skin tone is darkest) has red hair, and Roxy (whose skin is slightly lighter) is blond. The clean, simply drawn panels and warm pastel colors effectively evoke the outdoor summer setting.
An emotionally intelligent preteen summer camp adventure. (drawing guide) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9780593806234
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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