First American edition of an early work by the author of Book of Coupons (2001), and inspired by her own daughter’s experiences, this episodic tale of a young go-getter triumphing despite dreadful teachers and indifferent classmates will strike multiple chords of recognition in young readers. As junior high looms, then starts, Margot’s anxiety expresses itself in panic attacks at home—to which her distracted mother’s mantra, “You’ll get used to it,” becomes a running joke—and a compulsive, though ultimately frustrated, urge to organize her fellow students in school. The setting is French, and therefore mildly exotic, but Margot’s year includes plenty of all-too-familiar features, from September’s feeding frenzy in the store’s school-supply section to the daily lunchroom stampede, from minor pranks merry or hurtful, to a post-Christmas plague of MP3 players (an obvious bit of updating). While the lazy, clueless, arbitrary faculty takes a drubbing, Margot’s peers display a realistic mix of cruelty, confusion, and kindness—a crowd-pleasing combination that should make this as popular in English as its award-winning progenitor has been across the pond. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-670-03680-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
A child finds that being alone in a tiny tropical paradise has its ups and downs in this appealingly offbeat tale from the Australian author of Peeling the Onion (1999). Though her mother is long dead and her scientist father Jack has just sailed off on a quick expedition to gather plankton, Nim is anything but lonely on her small island home. Not only does she have constant companions in Selkie, a sea lion, and a marine iguana named Fred, but Chica, a green turtle, has just arrived for an annual egg-laying—and, through the solar-powered laptop, she has even made a new e-mail friend in famed adventure novelist Alex Rover. Then a string of mishaps darkens Nim’s sunny skies: her father loses rudder and dish antenna in a storm; a tourist ship that was involved in her mother’s death appears off the island’s reefs; and, running down a volcanic slope, Nim takes a nasty spill that leaves her feverish, with an infected knee. Though she lives halfway around the world and is in reality a decidedly unadventurous urbanite, Alex, short for “Alexandra,” sets off to the rescue, arriving in the midst of another storm that requires Nim and companions to rescue her. Once Jack brings his battered boat limping home, the stage is set for sunny days again. Plenty of comic, freely-sketched line drawings help to keep the tone light, and Nim, with her unusual associates and just-right mix of self-reliance and vulnerability, makes a character young readers won’t soon tire of. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-81123-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
The poster boy for relentless mischief-makers everywhere, first encountered in No, David! (1998), gives his weary mother a rest by going to school. Naturally, he’s tardy, and that’s but the first in a long string of offenses—“Sit down, David! Keep your hands to yourself! PAY ATTENTION!”—that culminates in an afterschool stint. Children will, of course, recognize every line of the text and every one of David’s moves, and although he doesn’t exhibit the larger- than-life quality that made him a tall-tale anti-hero in his first appearance, his round-headed, gap-toothed enthusiasm is still endearing. For all his disruptive behavior, he shows not a trace of malice, and it’ll be easy for readers to want to encourage his further exploits. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-48087-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
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