A sensitive portrayal of living with multiple allergies and of growing into oneself.
Toronto sixth grader Ella suffers from food allergies and anxiety, the latter exacerbated by the severity of the former.
Ella remembers certain incidents with embarrassment—most notably an episode in kindergarten that resulted in her mother deciding to home-school her and an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts at a friend’s birthday party that necessitated a trip to the ER. Ella desperately hopes she’s starting to outgrow the allergies and, with her mother’s permission, returns to school. Now, in addition to navigating possible triggers, she needs to adjust to the rules of middle school and her changing relationships with boys. Ella is an original narrator. Her complicated emotions are often set to the music that plays in her head and are best captured in her spontaneous verses. Now she has to summon the courage to stand in front of her classmates and recite her poem “Faceless Food,” which describes her experiences. Readers with no previous knowledge of food allergies will gain insight and empathize with Ella’s struggles; those who live with allergies will feel seen. Ella’s decision to climb the stairs at the C.N. Tower for a wildlife fundraiser, while an achievement in its own right, is also symbolic of her growing ability to challenge herself and accept circumstances she can’t change. Her friends and supporters also encourage her. Ella, who was donor conceived, is white; names cue ethnic diversity among the supporting cast.
A sensitive portrayal of living with multiple allergies and of growing into oneself. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781770867475
Page Count: 232
Publisher: DCB
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways.
Devotion permeates this tale of a small dog who’s swept up in a peasants’ revolt against a greedy king.
Inflamed with righteousness in the wake of yet another tax hike, 12-year-old Tom has defied his parents to slip away and join the revolutionary Reds. Stoutly declaring that he’s a good dog, 5-year-old Rebel chases after him to bring his beloved boy back—and discovers a wide new world beyond the farm, fraught with dangers but also rich in animal friends offering help and advice. Just as beguiling as the furry narrator’s dog’s-eye view of events are his ongoing arguments with Jaxon, a gruff feral hound he meets along the way, who urges him to find his wild inner True Dog. Jaxon’s refusal to be bound by emotional attachments ultimately clashes with Rebel’s big, uncomplicated heart. Following a brush with death, Rebel encounters a mystical Companion, who offers him glimpses of dog heaven; when the climactic battle arrives, Rebel declares, “I get to decide what I do with my one and only life. And if I use it for anything, I’m going to use it for love.” The author brings the odyssey to a satisfactory conclusion with one last, pure affirmation of love. In this story set in an alternate Britain reminiscent of its 17th-century Civil War, Rebel distinguishes humans in the cast by their voices, smell, and dress.
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781536246797
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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