A quick, sweet read.
Two friends learn to respect each other’s big ideas.
Twelve-year-old Alba’s club foot, aka Cleo, has always been “directionally challenged.” Cleo has often worn casts or braces; like the hummingbirds that fascinate her best friend, Levi, Alba has never run. But when the cast from Cleo’s final operation comes off, Alba plans to run in her school’s cross-country race. Levi, an “above average thinker” and Stephen Hawking fan, is distracted by what he believes is a wormhole in the school librarian’s office—and he doesn’t believe Alba can run. As the race approaches and Alba also notices the librarian’s odd disappearances, Alba and Levi must put aside their squabbles. The wormhole plot seems slightly juvenile for 12-year-olds, and characterization is somewhat uneven. Levi, who is white and has asthma, talks of little else but wormholes. Stubborn, self-conscious Alba, also white, is more sympathetic, particularly in her belief that running will earn her a place in “magical Normal Land.” Her goals occur in small steps, easing her into the difference between her dream and the reality without diminishing her accomplishments. Alba’s relationship with her single mother is touching, and the budding relationship between her mother and her doctor is awkward but optimistic. Alba’s narration is dotted with hummingbird facts, which Kadarusman—who had a club foot herself—explains in a glossary.
A quick, sweet read. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-77278-027-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
Wilf’s determined efforts to confront and overcome his fears add a bit of subtext, but the series is already treading water...
Once again wimpy Wilf has to overcome some of his many phobias to save the planet from the “biddly boddly baddest most evil man in the whole wide worlderoony.”
In this sequel to Wilf the Mighty Worrier Saves the World (2015), the “biddly boddly…” etc., aka next-door neighbor Alan, has built a pirate ship in his backyard. Now, styling himself Long John Alan, he has set sail to: a) find buried treasure; b) attack passing ships, and; c) destroy the Earth with a “Big Gun Thingy” made from a submarine with the ends lopped off. As his crew consists of a snotty parrot, a dog, a drunken robot, some pirates more interested in crafts than crime, Wilf, and Wilf’s baby sister, it’s left to Wilf to do most of the work—however terrified he may be of heights, walking the plank, squid, fish sucking his toes, and other hazards of the sea. Being a narrator both intrusive and temperamental, Pritchett folds in several false starts and endings to the “kerfuffle” as well as snarky comments. Littler adds lots of cartoon drawings of Wilf and his visualized worries, of Alan leering or glaring, and of the ship’s other passengers flitting about. All the human figures are white.
Wilf’s determined efforts to confront and overcome his fears add a bit of subtext, but the series is already treading water in its second episode. (Farce. 9-11)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68144-320-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Mobius
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A summer adventure that determined young readers may enjoy.
Tracy—gratingly—delights in calling her younger brother “Pig Face”; although she has a reasonably amicable relationship with him, she appears oblivious to the hurtful nature of her chronic name-calling.
But, surprisingly, since “Pig Face” comes up over and over, that is not the point of this overlong debut novel for early chapter-book readers. Tracy, 11, her best friend, Ralph, and her astute 9-year-old brother Lester, aka Pig Face, embark on the investigation of a mystery: why was a bag of money left in the detritus under the dugout bench of their small Canadian town’s ballpark? Slightly complicating their investigation is the presence of handsome visitor Zach, whom Tracy is developing a crush on and Ralph (perhaps partly because of that) dislikes. Tracy, Ralph, and Lester, all white, pursue their investigation in a kid-appropriate way, hiding the money and asking around, using a way-too-obvious approach that’s sure to spell trouble later—and it does. There are plenty of red herrings and an unexpected villain in this plot-driven adventure that eventually explores bullying but never, disappointingly, addresses the “pig face” problem. Tracy is a colorful character, dressing in vintage clothing and not ashamed of her intelligence, and Lester is amusingly wise for his years, their well-rounded characters adding authenticity.
A summer adventure that determined young readers may enjoy. (Mystery. 9-11)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-0621-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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