Katy lives in the mountains of Alaska, “where winter came early and stayed late.” She misses her grandmother, who died the previous summer. With the help of her mother, she resolves to finish the quilt Gram had started for her as a surprise. As Katy and her mother piece the fabric, they share memories of Grandma, and Mom recounts stories of herself as a girl, struggling with her own first quilt. Mom explains, “We are continuing a tradition by learning to quilt. Traditions are a gift from one generation to the next.” Together they finish the quilt, and seeing the pattern of flying cranes, remember how Grandma loved to watch the birds that returned with their families each year. A sentimental tale with rather too much text for the picture-book set, but potential for introducing the art. The author/illustrator here includes many pale, purple-toned scenes showing red-haired, freckled Katy, her elegant mom, a curious black cat, and clips and snips of the quilt. A sweet, rather pedantic tale of families, love, and loss. (author’s note on quilt patterns) (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88240-522-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
A cliffhanger ending isn’t the only sour note in this series opener.
Having hastily moved 26 times, the aptly named Quirks arrive in Normal, Mich., determined to blend in—a tall order as all but nearly 10-year-old Molly have magical abilities and underdeveloped senses of responsibility.
Being (seemingly) the only Quirk without magic and the most well-adjusted to boot, Molly gamely struggles to ride herd on her filthy, prank-loving little brother, Finn, who is invisible to all but her (except, as it turns out, when he’s chewing gum), and her depressed, troubled twin Penelope, whose every stray thought or mental image turns real. The rest of the clan? Molly’s father vanished five years ago; her frazzled mother, Bree, holds a job only because she can control the minds of others to cover her incompetence; a wimpy monster named Niblet lives under Molly’s bed; Grandpa Quill can reset time in small doses but not always voluntarily; and Grandma is a bird-sized fairy justly terrified of cats. Though spinning these discomfiting circumstances and abilities into light slapstick is at best a quixotic enterprise, Soderberg tries. She surrounds the Quirks with relentlessly oblivious regular folk, creates a series of consequence-free messes and disasters that disappear tidily between chapters, and hauls in heavy contrivances at the climax to make the town’s collective effort to create the world’s largest wad of chewed gum a success. Light’s frequent illustrations capture most of the grosser incidents, of which there are a goodly number.
A cliffhanger ending isn’t the only sour note in this series opener. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: June 4, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59990-789-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With humor and sympathy for her appealing protagonist and his secret friend, Jenkins continues a strong series for readers...
A whoopie-pie truck threatens the Wolowitz family ice cream business in this third adventure starring fourth-grader Hank and his invisible bandapat friend, Inkling.
While Hank’s father desperately tries to compete with the interloper, whose whoopie-pie ice cream filling is not local or organic but whose pumpkin cake is delicious, Hank has his own struggles. His one-time friend Patne now spends more time with Henry Kim. And unlike his neighbor Chin and the two boys he calls his half-friends, he’s been relegated to the Neons, the beginner section in swim class. Inkling tries to help him, but it’s hard to learn swimming moves from someone invisible. And it’s still important to keep Inkling’s existence a secret. For readers new to this (mostly) realistic series set in the author’s own Brooklyn, Hank and Inkling offer background in the opening chapter. Those who’ve been with the two since the beginning of the school year will be pleased to see Hank developing focus and to see them both finding friends. The first-person narrative moves along briskly, with plenty of dialogue and Bliss’ grayscale illustrations to break up the pages. (Final art not seen.)
With humor and sympathy for her appealing protagonist and his secret friend, Jenkins continues a strong series for readers of short chapter books. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: July 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-180226-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013
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