A nostalgic tale that offers a striking young hero and strange detours.
A 9-year-old girl experiences an unforgettable summer in this middle-grade novel.
Pippa Morganthal has just finished third grade and is pondering the word responsible. She wants to be a responsible person from now on, starting with reminding her great-aunt Freydis to take her daily medication—a duty that Pippa takes seriously. Unfortunately, when the girl arrives at Freydis’ house, the woman is dead, seemingly of natural causes. A frightened Pippa runs away after her 11-year-old uncle and best friend, Danny, warns her that she could go to jail. This kicks off a series of events in Pippa’s summer involving fried chicken picnics, amateur circuses, and a dog named Rosie along with more serious matters. The last includes a possible beauty contest, a stay with Pippa’s well-to-do grandparents while her dad serves in Congress, and makeovers from the Morganthals’ tenant Katrinka Ostler, a single mom to 7-year-old Al, who may have a deeper connection to the protagonist’s father. Pippa also fixes up the kindly family chauffeur, Ignatz “Natz” Gorman, who’s struggling to get his high school diploma, with her substitute teacher Miss Norman, who uses a wheelchair and still lives with her mother. Will there be a love connection, as Pippa hopes? As the rising fourth grader ponders her list of goals for the summer, she wonders if she can become “resplendent” as well as responsible. This is the sixth novel in West’s Hettyseries, which previously followed Pippa’s mother. There are several references to earlier events, which may spur readers to pick up other Hetty titles. Pippa turns out to be a compelling protagonist. She is a formidable girl, both daring and generous, and she always strives to do the right thing, even if her choices aren’t always wise. Set during the Richard Nixon administration, the story harkens back to a more analog era, which may be eye-opening for young readers. The book, which features the author’s black-and-white illustrations, also delivers copious dark content, including kidnapping, bloodshed, discussions of dog fighting, and animal euthanasia. In addition, there are many sections from Natz’s and Miss Norman’s points of view, revealing the insecurities of two adults. These bleak portions seem odd for the novel’s target audience.
A nostalgic tale that offers a striking young hero and strange detours.Pub Date: July 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73297-993-2
Page Count: 205
Publisher: Clean Kind World Books
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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