Not so much for puzzlers as for patient observers of social growth who enjoy varied intellectual and philosophical tidbits.
In a small Maine town, struggling with how—or whether—to have friends, a girl follows a trail of cryptic paper clues.
Ruth used to have a best friend, but now that they’re in sixth grade, Charlotte’s joined the popular crowd instead. No matter: Ruth prefers being a lone wolf. When an old envelope containing a riddle falls out of a library book, she imagines undertaking a quest similar to those in her favorite fantasy novels. One clue leads to another, but they’re confusing; Ruth needs help. Everything feels awkward. Whether to join the spelling bee, whether to tell her doctor Mom to stop forcing playdates and her business-traveling Mum how much she misses her, and whether to offer Charlotte illicit help on a quiz after Charlotte’s home burns down, leaving her and her dads homeless—all options feel mournful and fraught. Blakemore peppers her navigating-social-awkwardness arc with myriad topics—puberty, geography, literature, science (whales produce ear wax; snow quiets the air)—all more compelling than the quest riddles and frequent, intrusive insertions about Ruth’s current fantasy read. Ruth never grasps her own role in Charlotte’s departure from their friendship, while a new friend who owes apologies never gives them; still, Ruth ends her quest with satisfying new connections.
Not so much for puzzlers as for patient observers of social growth who enjoy varied intellectual and philosophical tidbits. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61963-630-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hilarious and joyful.
Twelve-year-old Gabby is a golden child, and nothing can go wrong, until it does.
Gabby, the star pitcher for Luther Junior High, is about to complete her second no-hitter of the season when the game is suspended, everyone is evacuated, and the school is closed because of an asbestos situation. The young Latina is assigned to Piper Bell Academy for the duration, a very upscale private school. She creates a playbook, definitely not a mere diary, to state her goals and strategies for maintaining her status in her new school. She assumes that she will be begged to join the baseball team and achieve further greatness, all in spite of gentle warnings from her parents and best friend. But her plans go immediately, painfully awry and must be listed as losses in her book. Feeling completely vanquished, she quits baseball and joins the marvelously inept field hockey team. A bit of humble pie and determination to do the right thing brings about a satisfying conclusion. Middle-grade readers will identify with Gabby’s preteen angst, laugh at her mostly self-inflicted struggles, and cheer for her success. The playbook format, heavily illustrated with doodles and delightful action sketches, also serves the purpose of describing the characters’ physical appearances, including skin color and ethnicity, which are implied by naming conventions but never stated in the text.
Hilarious and joyful. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-239180-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Warm, delicious and filling.
What do you get when you take some scrumptious pie recipes, stir in a mix-up of a mystery involving an overweight cat and a legacy, then add a sly satirical nod to the Newbery Medal? This irresistible confection.
In 1955, 10-year-old Alice’s beloved Aunt Polly, the peerless “Pie Queen of Ipswitch,” who has always given away the extraordinary products of her oven simply because it makes her happy, dies. She bequeaths her incomparable piecrust recipe to Lardo, her cat—or does she?—and leaves Lardo to Alice. Thus the stage is set for a rich, layered and funny tale about friendship, family relationships and doing what’s right. The characters are wonderfully drawn. While doing her best to carry on Aunt Polly’s legacy, trying to figure out how to wrest the secret from the cat, dealing with a nefarious woman poking around town and learning about the renowned “Blueberry Medal,” which everyone in town is trying to win, Alice draws closer to her mom, a resolution Aunt Polly would have cherished. Alice and her family eventually discover the solution to the mystery in a plot twist that is both comical and plausible. An epilogue, set in 1995, is deeply poignant and gratifying. In addition to the beautifully wrought story, readers will savor and want to attempt the 14 recipes, each of which precedes a chapter.
Warm, delicious and filling. (recipes, pie credits) (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-27011-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
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