by Ralph Fletcher ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2005
Fletcher joins a select group of children’s authors who open the pages to their childhood and the circumstances that led to their literary lives. “My world on Acorn Street (Marshfield, Mass.) seemed perfect, complete. But things began to happen that made me aware of another, bigger world.” Not much is secret in Ralph’s small town, so it’s embarrassing when a classmate tells him the scuttlebutt is that his mom is having yet another baby. Ralph’s mother has a baby every year, making him the oldest of nine, but who wants to hear that news from some nosy girl. A black-and-white photo of family members pertinent to the episode heads each chapter as Ralph relates “snicking” up the rug, raising chicks, playing war and sharing germs. This scrapbook of family moments is an amusing, charming and heartwarming memoir about a close family—close in terms of both small house space and their feelings for each other. A snapshot of small-world life that will open readers’ eyes to the bonds of a peerless time and simpler lifestyle. (Autobiography. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-8050-7242-X
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2005
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by Lois Lowry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2020
Highly amusing.
The incompetent parents from The Willoughbys (2008) find themselves thawed by global warming.
Henry and Frances haven’t aged since the accident that buried them in snow and froze them for 30 years in the Swiss Alps. Their Rip van Winkle–ish return is archly comedic, with the pair, a medical miracle, realizing (at last!) how much they’ve lost and how baffled they are now. Meanwhile, their eldest son, Tim, is grown and in charge of his adoptive father’s candy empire, now threatened with destitution by a congressional ban on candy (opposed by an unnamed Bernie Sanders). He is father to 11-year-old Richie, who employs ad-speak whenever he talks about his newest toys, like a remote-controlled car (“The iconic Lamborghini bull adorns the hubcaps and hood”). But Richie envies Winston Poore, the very poor boy next door, who has a toy car carved for him by his itinerant encyclopedia-salesman father. Winston and his sister, Winifred, plan to earn money for essentials by offering their services as companions to lonely Richie while their mother dabbles, spectacularly unsuccessfully, in running a B&B. Lowry’s exaggerated characters and breezy, unlikely plot are highly entertaining. She offers humorous commentary both via footnotes advising readers of odd facts related to the narrative and via Henry and Frances’ reentry challenges. The threads of the story, with various tales of parents gone missing, fortunes lost or never found, and good luck in the end, are gathered most satisfactorily and warmheartedly.
Highly amusing. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-42389-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh
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by Brenda Woods ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 9, 2014
Violet’s a bright, engaging biracial preteen, resigned to a “predictable summer of boring nothing” in small-town Washington; happily, for her and for readers, she couldn’t be more wrong.
Violet, 11, appreciates her loving family—busy neonatologist mom; sister, Daisy, 17; mom’s lively, ex-hippie parents—she’s just tired of explaining she belongs. She wouldn’t have to if her dad, an African-American doctor, hadn’t died in a car accident before her birth. In mostly white Moon Lake, Violet’s a rarity; her one black friend attends a different school. Adopting a kitten is fun, but lightening her hair? Big mistake. (It was supposed to look “sun-kissed,” like Daisy’s—not orange.) Although Roxanne, her dad’s mother, a famous artist, has refused contact (she has her reasons), Violet engineers a meeting at a Seattle gallery, persuading her mom to take her. Rebuffed at first, Violet persists until Roxanne invites her for a visit, and what was frozen begins to thaw. Both families are stable, intelligent and well-intentioned, but forgiveness and trust require contact; healing can’t happen at a distance. Violet’s no tragic mulatto—she’d survive estrangement, but in reconnecting with her dad’s family and cultural roots, she’ll thrive, fulfill her vast potential and, in doing so, enrich both families’ lives across the racial divide. Infused with humor, hope and cleareyed compassion—a fresh take on an old paradigm. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25714-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
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