What would a film of Timmy Failure’s life look like? Greatness!
Great detective Timmy Failure’s possibly imaginary business partner and polar bear, Total, is missing his polar-bear brother. Timmy would like to help him, but it would disrupt his detecting business—and then there is a solar eclipse at a crucial moment. Taking it as a sign from the gods, Timmy retires from detecting to help Total. Before the polar-bear hunt can progress very far, Timmy’s teacher assigns the class a movie project, and Timmy must write the script. He knows the greatest story never told: his life from birth to detective greatness. Unfortunately, new student Tom John John is to direct it. Now Timmy must deal with his perpetually absent father’s reappearance in town (and his patent refusal to be an international spy), the disappearance of the greatest script ever written, Tom John John’s pretentious frippery, a despondent polar bear, and a host of regular hangers-on (whom anyone else would call friends). Pastis caps his offbeat, frequently absurd, and oft-times sedately madcap series with a satisfying closer. Timmy narrates his tale of greatness in his customary deadpan; Pastis’ line drawings often supply wry punchlines and depict an all-white cast.
Fans will feel fulfilled. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-11)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0240-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
Ryan Hart is navigating the fourth grade and all its challenges with determination.
Her mom named her Ryan because it means “king,” and she wanted Ryan to feel powerful every time she heard her name; Ryan knows it means she is a leader. So when changes occur or disaster strikes, budding chef Ryan does her best to find the positive and “make sunshine.” When her dad is laid off from the post office, the family must make adjustments that include moving into a smaller house, selling their car, and changing how they shop for groceries. But Ryan gets to stay at Vernon Elementary, and her mom still finds a way to get her the ingredients she needs to practice new recipes. Her older brother, Ray, can be bossy, but he finds little ways to support her, especially when she is down—as does the whole family. Each episodic chapter confronts Ryan with a situation; intermittently funny, frustrating, and touching, they should be familiar and accessible to readers, as when Ryan fumbles her Easter speech despite careful practice. Ryan, her family, and friends are black, and Watson continues to bring visibility to both Portland, Oregon, generally and its black community specifically, making another wonderful contribution that allows black readers to see themselves and all readers to find a character they can love.
Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet! (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0056-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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Melody Bishop's peaceful life with her widower father is upset when the annoying 6-year-old next door comes home from the beauty parlor with some gossip.
The 10-year-old has already noticed her father's increased distraction and a new tendency to whistle, so when Teeny Nelson reports that "Henry's been bitten by the love bug," Melody is avid to know more. With her best friend, biracial Nick Woo, at her side, she goes to the Bee Hive beauty salon to investigate. What she discovers there rocks her world not once but twice, as salon owner Bee-Bee has information about Melody's mother, who died in childbirth and about whom her father never speaks. Weeks gets the small moments right: Melody's exasperation with Teeny and the way it turns to sympathy when the little girl's mother threatens a spanking; her affectionate resignation when her grandfather, who has emphysema, sneaks out to the garage for a smoke. And Melody's close relationship with her loving father is sweetly evoked. But other elements fail to cohere. Obvious misdirection leads Melody to a critical misunderstanding that never amounts to more than a plot contrivance, and the mystical visions of Bee-Bee's dog, Mo, who has an unknown connection to Melody, strain credulity.
In all, it's an unsuccessful follow-up to Weeks' Pie (2011), but word-loving Melody is appealing, and her appended list of nail-polish colors is somewhat amusing. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-46557-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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