Weighed in the balance, found wanting.
Scorpio is throwing a Halloween party, but Libra gets so fussed about what to wear that she decides not to go.
The creators of Astro Baby (2019) kick off a more-extended trip around the zodiac with a cast that exaggeratedly embodies each sign’s supposed characteristics. Writing at rather than for children in a mix of laborious explanations and wooden dialogue, Tea pushes her narrator past an introduction (“I like to keep things balanced and equal to harmonize the vibes”) and then into a tizzy when Scorpio crawls up with an invitation. What costume to wear? Cinderella? “But then I’d have to marry a prince or something.” How about Coco Chanel? “I don’t even speak French!” Finally fellow air signs Aquarius and Gemini transform Libra into a “French fairy mermaid princess who just won the gold medal in the Olympics!” Now Libra needs no help deciding that it’s the “best Halloween party ever!” Perry’s illustrations, most of which are dizzy tangles of unfilled, autumnal-orange line drawings, are printed, like the hand-lettered narrative, on starry black backdrops. Between Scorpio’s long, segmented body and dripping fangs and Libra, who looks like a diapered adult with scales for ears, the effect is more than a little weird. Scorpio in Berry Intense publishes simultaneously, and signs point to 10 further sequels on the way.
Weighed in the balance, found wanting. (Picture book. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-948340-14-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Dottir Press
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Poignant and heartwarming.
Zephyrina the cat, the “Robin Hood of felines,” rescues discarded toys so they can have new lives.
Zephyrina brings toys back to the apartment she shares with Elizaveta and her daughter, Dasha, refugees from war-torn Ukraine. Dasha reconditions Zephyrina’s rescues and sets them outside for three days, just in case they have owners who want to reclaim them. Afterward, they join the other toys in the parlor—the Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured. Dasha and Elizaveta don’t know that the toys are sentient. At midnight they abandon their rigid daytime postures to cavort and play, overseen by their leader, Pocket, a tiny mascot bear made to comfort soldiers during World War I. One night, Zephyrina brings back a dirty old bear, and Pocket is astounded. The new arrival, Berwon, might come from a lost shipment of the first-ever stuffed bears, sent from Germany to the U.S. in 1903—and if so, he’s worth a fortune. In the ensuing antics, the unpleasant villain Picky Vicky covets Berwon, and a kind museum curator does, too, but for different reasons. Applegate’s writing is exquisitely nuanced; she couches profound themes in accessible language that depicts relatable situations. Gentle, generous Elizaveta and Dasha poignantly underscore the human impact of wars. Santoso’s enchanting, delicate, black-and-white illustrations bring the timeless feeling of a classic to this hopeful, humanizing story of the distressed looking out for each other.
Poignant and heartwarming. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781250904362
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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