A heartfelt glimpse into tweens’ role-playing of different selves and a lifeline for anyone who’s ever felt different.
Fan fiction imitates reality when a would-be werewolf and vampire become fast friends.
Jamie Rose McKenzie, a seventh grader who likes to pretend to be a werewolf, has moved to Godwin Bay. Classmates Aimee, Jazmin, and Olivia help her get her bearings, but Jamie doesn’t gel with their ideas of fun or their beauty standards. Meanwhile, goth outcast Vera shares a favorite TV show with Jamie and has an affinity for vampires. Away from prying eyes and rumor mills, they bond while chatting on an online site called Wyvern. Vera even introduces Jamie to a couple of creative, like-minded online pals, Peyton and Danny. When classmates accidentally discover—and mock—Jamie and Vera’s shared writing project, Jamie must choose between standing up for a genuine friend or playing along with the in crowd. The pleasing illustrations, which are rendered in soft jewel tones and accentuate the human figures, convey layers of meaning, such as when Jamie metaphorically transforms into a wolf while exerting herself during PE. Fantasy flourishes indicate when Jamie and Vera are role-playing as their paranormal identities with one another. These middle schoolers might have some trouble fitting in with a mainstream crowd, but their longing for friends with whom to share passions and creativity is genuine. Jamie, Vera, and Olivia present white, while Aimee and Jazmin are brown-skinned.
A heartfelt glimpse into tweens’ role-playing of different selves and a lifeline for anyone who’s ever felt different. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
ISBN: 9780316580250
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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