A heartwarming, nostalgic story of friendship, bravery, and self-discovery, with a touch of magic woven throughout.
Sent to Nebraska after a terrible accident, an 11-year-old girl fights to save a magical tree—and possibly her father’s life.
When “absolutely everything” changes, Eloise Atticus Cooper ends up spending the summer in Caspian, Nebraska, with her Gee-pa while her mother and 4-year-old brother, Jeremiah, remain in Oklahoma. Early in her stay, Eloise explores the attic, where she finds her father’s childhood journal in which he describes a magical tree growing on the family’s land. Then Eloise experiences the magic first-hand: Falling from the willow’s upper branches, she’s gently lowered to the ground, an event that’s witnessed by her two new friends, Olive and Kimiko. All three watch as a leaf heals Eloise’s scraped knee instantaneously. Eloise soon realizes that the tree’s very existence is somehow tied to the fate of her father, who remains in a coma after a truck hit him while he was cycling. When local developer Daniel Wells the Third buys Gee-pa’s land, which spells the end for Mama Willow, the girls know they must act. The characters’ straightforward authenticity and the less-than-perfect ending make Oka’s debut an appealing read for fans of gentle yet spirited tales such as Jeanne Birdsall’s The Penderwicks and Ingrid Law’s Savvy. Most characters read white. Kimiko’s mother is Japanese and her father is white. Final art not seen.
A heartwarming, nostalgic story of friendship, bravery, and self-discovery, with a touch of magic woven throughout. (discussion questions) (Fabulism. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781639935819
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
A deeply imaginative journey that puts the “cat” in cathartic.
A loyal black kitten’s boy is under supernatural attack.
Eleven-month-old Nimbus loves Fletcher, the boy who nursed her back to health following life-threatening injuries. When Fletcher becomes curious about a strange jar and opens it, releasing a terrible goblin, loyal Nim protects Fletcher, taking heavy damage in the process. But Fletcher’s aunt, who’s caring for him over spring break, believes Nim attacked Fletcher and dumps her far from home. Rhett, a stylish rat with star quality, befriends injured Nim and leads her to a witch’s house. While the witch cares for Nim, the witch’s cats (maternal Fern, bookish Rochester, standoffish Bianca, and openly hostile Abraxas) teach Nim important cat skills. She also discovers she has a supernatural ability: In destroying one eye of the nightmare demon in the fight to protect Fletcher, Nim gained its “dream sight.” But she also learns it might come back for Fletcher, who no longer has Nim to protect him, posing a time-sensitive, high-stakes threat. Even though the witch’s home is nice and magic itself seems to be telling her to stay put, Nim wants to find a way back to Fletcher. As a hero, Nimbus is as gritty and determined as she is adorable. Tear-jerker moments explore pet abandonment—readers may want their own pets on hand to hug—all the way through the magical, action-packed finale. Fletcher and the witch read white.
A deeply imaginative journey that puts the “cat” in cathartic. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780062680372
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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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