A thoughtful story about learning to look beneath the surface and be a better friend.
Ten-year-old Robyn prepares to be the new kid again by writing a set of rules to help her blend in and make friends.
Robyn and her biology professor mom have relocated frequently, but this move to San Luis Obispo, California, might be permanent, so Robyn has planned for a successful transition. When her beloved rescue dogs, Sundae and Fudge, are turned away from an agility class because of their disabilities (Fudge is deaf and has limited vision; Sundae has anxiety), Robyn makes a deal with the dog trainer’s grandson, Nestor; Nestor’s cousin, Jonathan; and classmate Alejandra. Alejandra will provide math tutoring and Robyn will bring snacks in exchange for ability training for Sundae and Fudge. In school, however, Robyn tries to blend in with judgy Lulu and Marshan and ignores Alejandra, who skipped a grade and dresses all in purple. Consumed with what others think of her, Robyn forgets to think about others; in a conversation with her babysitter, Nivien, Robyn realizes, “It’s like the rules have become the bus driver, and I’m the bus.” In this well-paced work that relatably unpacks core aspects of middle school life, Robyn realizes as her rules backfire that as much as she wants others to know her whole story, she needs to be open to learning theirs as well. Robyn and her mom are assumed White; secondary characters are ethnically diverse.
A thoughtful story about learning to look beneath the surface and be a better friend. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-9640-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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
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