by Rebecca Behrens ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2018
Infused with warmth and brightly developed characters and locales, Bea’s adventure makes for a satisfying read
The bond between sisters—not to mention grandmother and granddaughter—sets in motion a quirky, heart-rending journey and a discovery that could either change history or crush a dream.
Beatrice is not a risk taker. Not like her journalist mom, who, since divorcing Bea’s dad, is constantly on the move, searching for her next big story. Bea, 12, feels abandoned and resentful living with her dad and his new wife, Julie, and her irritating, adoring younger stepsister, Sally. Which is why, when she spends time with her free-wheeling grandmother, Bea feels herself swept away by the older woman’s sense of adventure. Besides, adventure runs in grandma’s blood. How could it not? After all, Muriel—call her “Pidge”—is the sister of long-lost aviatrix Amelia “Meelie” Earhart. In an imaginative tale set in 1967, grandma Pidge takes her granddaughter on a journey to finally discover what happened to her long-lost sister 30 years before. Or is the journey fueled by something more? Pidge, who shares letters she has received from Meelie, is showing signs of being unwell. Is she ill or simply fatigued? Despite bouts of forgetfulness, Pidge’s persistence encourages Bea (and readers) to want to believe even as the story hurtles toward a heartbreakingly surprising if inevitable conclusion. Bea’s intelligent, believable voice leads readers through a narrative sprinkled with period references and interspersed with Meelie’s handwritten letters.
Infused with warmth and brightly developed characters and locales, Bea’s adventure makes for a satisfying read . (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9692-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
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by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
More by Jeff Kinney
BOOK REVIEW
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
BOOK REVIEW
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
BOOK REVIEW
by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney
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SEEN & HEARD
by Kate McKinnon ; illustrated by Alfredo Cáceres ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2024
Fiercely feisty and unapologetically goofy.
Three young girls are tasked with saving their town from a vicious worm.
This romp from actor McKinnon introduces the three Porch girls: Gertrude, age 12 and three-quarters, Eugenia, age 12 and one-eighth, and Dee-Dee, age 11. Cared for by Aunt Desdemona and Uncle Ansel (along with their seven cousins, who are all named Lavinia), they’re forced to live in a ramshackle shed at the edge of the property. In a classic turn of events, the sisters are invited to a new school run by a certain Millicent Quibb. Under Quibb’s eccentric tutelage, the trio learn that the nefarious Krenetics Research Association, hoping to release their founder, Talon Sharktūth, from his vault, has bred a Kyrgalops, a vicious stone- and puppy-chomping worm, which may destroy their entire town. McKinnon’s middle-grade debut is grandiosely silly, reminiscent of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events in both its sesquipedalian language and tone and in relying heavily on its bespoke lexicon, verbal gymnastics, and cheeky footnotes to deliver jokes. Interspersed throughout are bits of visual interest—poems and songs, schematics, and bits of correspondence. Though the action rockets along at a Pixy Stix–fueled pace, many questions are left unanswered or unaddressed, making this series opener exposition heavy and a bit frustrating. Still, readers will ultimately be left hopeful that subsequent volumes will offer something meatier. The illustrations cue some diversity of skin tone among the characters.
Fiercely feisty and unapologetically goofy. (map, afterword, appendices) (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780316554732
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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