Positively shines with big laughs and big feelings.
In this sequel set in 1985, Cassie lands a role as a movie extra, but life on set is far from glamorous.
It’s the summer before middle school, and Cassie wants to spend time with best friend Vali, but that means including Vali’s other bestie, Stesha. Technically, Stesha is Cassie’s friend, too, but sometimes it feels like Stesha is trying to drive her away. There’s no money for day camp, so Cassie is stuck babysitting her younger siblings, but everything changes when the girls discover a horror movie is being filmed in their neighborhood. Cassie, who presents white, and Vali, who’s brown-skinned, are excited (Stesha deems them “embarrassing”). The girls are offered a week on set as extras, but things don’t go as expected. Cast as “ugly kids,” the girls spend endless hours waiting for their scene. The professional child actors are snobs, the adults are dismissive, and, worst of all, the script has a monster so scary, Cassie can’t sleep through the night. Then Vali gets bored and quits. Torn between sticking with Vali and being in a movie, Cassie ultimately decides to make the most of her time in the spotlight. Cassie is allowed to be scared but brave, mean but generous. The characters make mistakes, make amends, and always feel fully realized. Cespedes’ expressive illustrations capture Cassie’s emotional complexity, particularly in fantasy sequences where she redirects her anxiety and confronts her inner monster.
Positively shines with big laughs and big feelings. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781250843104
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
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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