A recollection of a pivotal turn in the road of life.
In thoughtful, measured tones, the story’s narrator, an English girl named Bonny, now “well over thirty,” reminisces about a time in her life when her ambition was to be an Olympic medal–winning bicyclist. Receiving a racing bike for her 12th birthday, Bonny heads out for a ride in the Dales. Distracted by three horses cavorting in a field, Bonny falls. Recovering, she examines her slightly injured knee and laments over her flat tire, then sees the three horses gazing at her over the stone wall. Bonny is smitten. From then on, she plans her training rides to pass the horses’ field and begins to bring them carrots. Eventually, she meets their owner, a woman sculptor (apparently based on the British sculptor Elisabeth Frink, to whom the book is dedicated) who offers her a job mucking out the horses’ stalls—and Bonny’s straight-focus road to being a competitive cyclist takes a turn. Thoughtful and validating, the story embraces the idea of change and doing what you love. The refreshing illustrations combine full-color paintings of the Dales with sidebar black-and-white studies of animals, reminiscent of an artist’s sketchbook. In addition to livening up the small, squarish trim size of the book, the illustrative style also mirrors and enhances the storyline of the artist/sculptor who is so formative to Bonny’s path in life. The cast is assumed White.
A thoughtfully told, refreshingly illustrated story. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1288-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
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From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage.
Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We’re the cool kids….He's the dork." With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer.
Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-32698-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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SEEN & HEARD
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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