by Louis Sachar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1989
A wry, uneven story in which a junior-high-schooler has his fling with the "in" crowd but ultimately finds more rewarding friends. David stands by uneasily while Roger and two other popular classmates knock down old Mrs. Bayfield, break her window, and steal her cane. When he himself is plagued by similar mishaps, he wonders whether he has been cursed—especially after learning that Mrs. Bayfield is reputed to be a witch who steals faces. Sachar gives David more than his share of grief: a constant victim of japes and jeers, he hangs around with outcasts Larry and Mo (Maureen); having nerved himself to ask out friendly Tori, he stands in front of her and loses his pants. Then, desperate to retrieve the cane and end the curse, he challenges Roger; battered but unbowed, he gets the cane, marches it back to Mrs. Bayfield, and learns that she's Tori's aunt and also a well-known artist who makes life masks (thus the witch rumor). Like There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (1987), this features plenty of wildly tunny moments and deftly depicted social interaction; but once again Sachar keeps underestimating readers, halting the action to explain points he wants to make. Meanwhile, the final scenes, including a bibliotherapeutic epilogue set 150 years hence, are contrived and awkwardly handled.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1989
ISBN: 0679886222
Page Count: -
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1989
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by Louis Sachar ; illustrated by Tim Heitz
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by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1952
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
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by E.B. White & illustrated by Maggie Kneen
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by E.B. White illustrated by Fred Marcellino
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by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams
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SEEN & HEARD
by Emily Winfield Martin ; illustrated by Emily Winfield Martin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25, 2015
Wonderful, indeed
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New York Times Bestseller
A love song to baby with delightful illustrations to boot.
Sweet but not saccharine and singsong but not forced, Martin’s text is one that will invite rereadings as it affirms parental wishes for children while admirably keeping child readers at its heart. The lines that read “This is the first time / There’s ever been you, / So I wonder what wonderful things / You will do” capture the essence of the picture book and are accompanied by a diverse group of babies and toddlers clad in downright adorable outfits. Other spreads include older kids, too, and pictures expand on the open text to visually interpret the myriad possibilities and hopes for the depicted children. For example, a spread reading “Will you learn how to fly / To find the best view?” shows a bespectacled, school-aged girl on a swing soaring through an empty white background. This is just one spread in which Martin’s fearless embrace of the white of the page serves her well. Throughout the book, she maintains a keen balance of layout choices, and surprising details—zebras on the wallpaper behind a father cradling his child, a rock-’n’-roll band of mice paralleling the children’s own band called “The Missing Teeth”—add visual interest and gentle humor. An ideal title for the baby-shower gift bag and for any nursery bookshelf or lap-sit storytime.
Wonderful, indeed . (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37671-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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by Emily Winfield Martin ; illustrated by Emily Winfield Martin
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by Emily Winfield Martin ; illustrated by Emily Winfield Martin
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