A plucky amateur detective, secret passages, exaggerated characters, concealed identities, and dastardly villains equal a...
When 11-year-old Tabitha Crum receives a mysterious invitation for a weekend visit with the reclusive Countess of Windermere at Hollingsworth Hall circa 1907, she uncovers a diabolical plot that changes her life.
In the grand tradition of Roald Dahl, Tabitha’s despicable, neglectful parents force her to sleep in the attic and wear outgrown school uniforms. Her only friend’s a pet mouse. Before Tabitha departs for Hollingsworth, her parents announce they are leaving and sending her to an orphanage as soon as her visit is over. When Tabitha arrives at Hollingsworth, she meets five more clueless kids. Influenced by Inspector Pensive novels, Tabitha readily shifts into detective mode when the eccentric countess reveals she will be interviewing each child to determine which one is her missing grandchild, destined to inherit £100,000. During the isolation imposed by a freak snowstorm, an elderly maid dies under suspicious circumstances, ghostly groans echo behind walls, the countess becomes disturbingly nasty, and children disappear. Dauntlessly exploring nooks and crannies, Tabitha unravels the twisted, shocking truth and finds a real family and friends. Themes of friendship and family permeate this darkly humorous, melodramatic period thriller. Sketchy black-and-white illustrations add to the macabre mood.
A plucky amateur detective, secret passages, exaggerated characters, concealed identities, and dastardly villains equal a swell mystery. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-1921-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
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
Poignant and heartwarming.
Zephyrina the cat, the “Robin Hood of felines,” rescues discarded toys so they can have new lives.
Zephyrina brings toys back to the apartment she shares with Elizaveta and her daughter, Dasha, refugees from war-torn Ukraine. Dasha reconditions Zephyrina’s rescues and sets them outside for three days, just in case they have owners who want to reclaim them. Afterward, they join the other toys in the parlor—the Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured. Dasha and Elizaveta don’t know that the toys are sentient. At midnight they abandon their rigid daytime postures to cavort and play, overseen by their leader, Pocket, a tiny mascot bear made to comfort soldiers during World War I. One night, Zephyrina brings back a dirty old bear, and Pocket is astounded. The new arrival, Berwon, might come from a lost shipment of the first-ever stuffed bears, sent from Germany to the U.S. in 1903—and if so, he’s worth a fortune. In the ensuing antics, the unpleasant villain Picky Vicky covets Berwon, and a kind museum curator does, too, but for different reasons. Applegate’s writing is exquisitely nuanced; she couches profound themes in accessible language that depicts relatable situations. Gentle, generous Elizaveta and Dasha poignantly underscore the human impact of wars. Santoso’s enchanting, delicate, black-and-white illustrations bring the timeless feeling of a classic to this hopeful, humanizing story of the distressed looking out for each other.
Poignant and heartwarming. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781250904362
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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