Grass-roots politics at its best, likely to leave readers flushed with laughter.
Sixth grade dumps a flurry of teacher and school-policy issues on a veteran problem-solver’s plate.
So it’s off to middle school and a whole new level of assignments for Dewey—including a teacher whose shark-based curriculum is terrorizing an entire class, the sudden appearance of single-sheet dispensers in all the toilet stalls, and the dismaying prospect of having the snack machines replaced by wholesome produce from a student garden. But, as fans of his exploits in Dewey Fairchild, Parent Problem Solver (2017) well know, no matter the scope or complexity of the case, Dewey has a plan or at least enough of one to get started. In classmates Colin and Seraphina, plus nonagenarian business associate, neighbor, and designated cookie baker Clara Cottonwood, he has an excellent posse, too. Extended brainstorming and research sessions, a poster campaign, and carefully crafted presentations for a climactic school assembly are all plainly offered as models for would-be activist readers, but the author stirs in a big dog, a little sister, classroom hijinks, family interplay, and so much banter and punning (“Your t-issue is a call to duty!”) that the agenda sits lightly on the roller-coaster plot. Dewey is white, but his supporting cast is more explicitly diversified than previously, both on the cover illustration (in which Colin and Seraphina are both shown to be kids of color) and in narrative references to immigrant parents, ethnicity, and like cues.
Grass-roots politics at its best, likely to leave readers flushed with laughter. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-944995-85-0
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For anyone who needs a reminder that they are perfect just as they are.
Growing up with a unicorn horn hasn’t been easy for 13-year-old Jewel Conrad; she just wants to be normal.
So when she finds a doctor in California who might be able to remove it, she jumps at the chance. There are only two problems: She hasn’t told her mother yet, and Carmen, the real live unicorn who follows her around, is getting distressed over Jewel’s deep unhappiness with her appearance. The novel’s textured representation includes an examination of how Jewel’s poverty affects her relationship with the world, including living with a single mom in low-income housing in Georgia; sharing a bedroom with her disabled grandmother; and her willingness, born out of desperation, to consider free surgery in exchange for being part of a doctor’s experimental trial. Healthy and fulfilling friendships are contrasted with more shallow, toxic ones as well as some bullying issues at school. The first-person perspective excels at showing Jewel’s internal thoughts and misconceptions. Her hobbies of drawing and reading graphic novels are woven naturally throughout the story as a whole, adding to the richness of characterization. The tension slowly builds to an adventurous climax and a heartwarming ending. Ultimately this is an ode to being different that does not gloss over the difficult aspects of standing out, especially in middle school. Main characters follow a White default.
For anyone who needs a reminder that they are perfect just as they are. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-79720-305-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A film is already in development, and if it lives up to this marvel-laden debut, it’ll be well worth seeing.
Mibs can’t wait for her 13th birthday, when her special gift, or “savvy,” will awaken.
Everyone in her family—except beloved Papa, who married in—has one, from Grandpa Bomba’s ability to move mountains (literally) to Great Aunt Jules’s time-traveling sneezes. What will hers be? Not what she wants, it turns out, but definitely what she needs when the news that a highway accident has sent her father to the ICU impels her to head for the hospital aboard a Bible salesman’s old bus. Sending her young cast on a zigzag odyssey through the “Kansaska-Nebransas” heartland, Law displays both a fertile imagination (Mibs’s savvy is telepathy, but it comes with a truly oddball caveat) and a dab hand for likable, colorful characters. There are no serious villains here, only challenges to be met, friendships to be made and some growing up to do on the road to a two-hanky climax.
A film is already in development, and if it lives up to this marvel-laden debut, it’ll be well worth seeing. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3306-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial/Walden Media
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2008
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