If it's appropriate for a story about a kvetch "to have a Yiddish flavor" (see Chapman, above), it may be appropriate for a story of ineffable wisdom to be set in India; the problem is that it has no flavor. It starts out in fact, for all its atmospheric illustrations, as still another tale of a wise-man-on-a-mountain and his young helper, related in banal primer prose: "Ali would take the answers down the mountain. He would give them to the waiting people. Pundabi and All lived well this way, and the people loved them dearly." What happens is that the king gets wind of Pundabi's gifts, calls him to the palace, and asks him to solve a mystery—what mystery "is for you to discover!" So, while All quakes and shakes, Pundabi observantly walks around and discovers, he says, "the mystery of the Golden Serpent." The king of course didn't know he had one; and, searching, can't find it—the people are too crippled to steal anything, too poor to conceal anything. The king, disconcerted, pays Pundabi his promised golden coins to get rid of him, and Pundabi gives them to the poor folk just met. A "wise and generous solution," as All says; but what of Pundabi's promise to the king that, when he opens his eyes, he'll find the Golden Serpent. "No," he won't, Pundabi agrees; "Some people never do. But that is another mystery." However kids construe this, it has only Pundabi's wise stratagem to commend it: the telling has no lift, the pictures have a cliched, picturesque likeness to India but no conviction.
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 1980
ISBN: 0670344451
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1980
Thirty rib-tickling tales of Wayside School, where the classrooms are stacked one atop the other, dead rats live in the basement, and there's no 19th floor—usually. It's a long haul from the playground to the 30th floor, past the principal's office (lair of Mr. Kidswatter), past the lunchroom, where Miss Mush makes her Mushroom Surprise, past Miss Zarves' class on the 19th floor that isn't there; but the children don't mind, for Mrs. Jewls—their favorite teacher—is waiting for them. Wayside School is never dull; if Mrs. Jewls isn't demonstrating gravity by dropping the new computer out the window or delivering words of wisdom ("It doesn't matter what you wear on the outside. It's what's underneath that counts. If you want to be great and important, you have to wear expensive underpants"), her students liven things up: among other startling events, Sharie brings in a hobo for show-and-tell; Calvin shows off his birthday tattoo; and the ghost of dreaded former teacher Mrs. Gorf animates Miss Mush's potato salad. Each short episode is prefaced with a simple, evocative line drawing. Sachar has a gift for having fun without poking it too sharply, and beneath all the frivolity there very often lurks some idea or observation worth pondering. A sure-to-please sequel to Sideways Stories from Wayside School.
Pub Date: March 22, 1989
ISBN: 0380754843
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1989
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting emotional roller coaster chronicling a loyal dog’s last days with her human family.
A retired working dog protects and cares for her family until her dying breath in Hoyle’s middle-grade novel.
Retired North Carolina Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement dog Ripley is a stalwart, loyal German shepherd who has dedicated herself to taking care of her young human, Charlie, as well as Charlie’s mom, Amelia, ever since Charlie’s father, Max, died five years ago. Sadly, Ripley can sense that she is nearing the end of her own life after she falls getting off of Charlie’s bed. The vet confirms that Ripley has osteosarcoma, devastating Charlie and her mother with the news. The two have been fairly isolated since Max’s death, and Ripley worries that her humans will not have enough support after she’s gone. As the dog and her family check items off a bucket list of the former’s favorite activities, like chasing sandpipers at the beach, they find themselves truly reckoning not only with her death, but Max’s as well. Charlie and Amelia both start to make new friends, including a boy named Nathan who is dealing with the recent loss of his mother. There is no rest for the weary—Ripley must unofficially return to duty to protect her humans from dangerous poachers who threaten the preserve where Amelia works. This tearjerking middle-grade novel is the passionate and tender fourth installment in Hoyle’s canine-centric bibliography, following Millie (2024). Written in the first person from Ripley’s point of view, the narrative roots itself in sensory details, such as the “nervous chemicals [that] tint [Charlie’s] breath” when Ripley falls and the physical strain of the family’s financial woes (“I don’t know what it is about the word money, but it always makes my girls tense and their words stiff”). Peppered throughout are Tarkela’s black-and-white digital illustrations, which are proficient but less emotionally evocative or memorable than the story itself.
An affecting emotional roller coaster chronicling a loyal dog’s last days with her human family.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781639934164
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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