by Russell Ginns ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2019
A cliffhanging conclusion will ensure that readers who’ve enjoyed these improbable tales will be impatient to find out about...
The further adventures of Samantha Spinner involve rubber-nosed clowns, a gross of chinchillas, and a Broadway play.
In the first installment of their search for their missing uncle Paul, Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans (2018), 11-year-old Samantha and her annoying little brother, Nipper, traveled to France, Italy, and Egypt. They didn’t find their uncle, but they outwitted an organization called the Royal Academy of International Ninjas (RAIN). Here, they visit Mali, Indonesia, and Peru, using supersecret underground transport, and take a train to New York to see the opening of older sister Buffy’s Broadway play, all the while trying to avoid the clowns of the Society of Universal Nonsense (SUN). The narrative in this second series entry includes explanatory background, but the Spinners’ adventures are so bizarre that new readers may find it hard to catch up. Still, fast-paced action and zany humor could keep them turning pages anyway. Samantha is clever and focused, Nipper impulsive and impatient (his impulsive, unintentional purchase of 144 chinchillas is dealt with by the Komodo dragon he brings home); both contribute to finding clues and occasionally ignore what readers will see as obvious. With no physical descriptions, they’re presumably white, which is confirmed on the cover. Interspersed in the narrative are more supersecret plans—of the Borobadur Temple, fire hydrants, accelerated moving walkways, the Great Mosque of Djenné, Lucy the Elephant, and the USS Intrepid. All but the elephant have roles in this adventure—perhaps she’ll appear in the next book.
A cliffhanging conclusion will ensure that readers who’ve enjoyed these improbable tales will be impatient to find out about the WIND. (further information) (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-2004-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More by Russell Ginns
BOOK REVIEW
by Russell Ginns & Cara J. Stevens ; illustrated by Kristen Terrana-Hollis
BOOK REVIEW
by Russell Ginns & Jonathan Maier ; illustrated by Kristen Terrana-Hollis
BOOK REVIEW
by Russell Ginns ; illustrated by Barbara Fisinger
by Bobbie Pyron ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More by Bobbie Pyron
BOOK REVIEW
by Bobbie Pyron
BOOK REVIEW
by Bobbie Pyron
BOOK REVIEW
by Bobbie Pyron
by Dan Gemeinhart ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change.
Coyote hits the highway again in this follow-up to 2019’s The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.
Set one year later, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, this sequel finds Coyote Sunrise and her father, Rodeo, both cued white, having settled into a house in Oregon, with Rodeo receiving counseling and Coyote attending school for the first time in five years. But with school canceled for three weeks, it’s the perfect time for father and daughter to traverse the country in their bus. They’re off in search of a lost volume of poetry by Mary Oliver in which Coyote’s mother wrote down the location where they should scatter her ashes. As before, the pair accumulate a motley assemblage of fellow travelers who fall under the spell of the quirky duo. Coyote’s narrative flair propels the novel, but the emotional underpinnings have shifted. Thirteen-year-old Coyote’s parentified role has lessened, and, aggravated by challenges with classmates, she displays a believably volatile early-adolescent tone in her narration and behavior. Her friend Salvador, who’s Latine, is an empathetic, well-developed character. Thanks to Gemeinhart’s trademark compassion, each character participates in moments of poignant humanity, but many supporting characters feel more lightly sketched in, including Thai American former corporate lawyer Wally, who experiences anti-Asian racism related to the unfolding pandemic; purple-haired coder Candace, Rodeo’s new girlfriend; and a grieving older Englishwoman named Doreen.
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781250292773
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
Share your opinion of this book
More by Dan Gemeinhart
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.