A worthy sequel in which the protagonist matures and flourishes in an exciting urban atmosphere.
The second installment of Gigi Shin’s story brings her to New York City for a summer art camp.
Seventh grade is over, and Gigi’s tutoring club has raised enough money for the four tutors to travel to New York City for Starscape, a summer program for the arts. Gigi is understandably excited: She’ll be together with her friends, learning from her favorite graphic novelist, Christiana Moon, and seeing her aunt Yeji. Unfortunately, Gigi ends up assigned to a different dorm from her friends, and Aunt Yeji keeps flaking on their plans. Even worse, Gigi’s graphic novel class is overwhelming, and Christiana Moon is critical and dismissive of both her artwork and her ideas. Gigi perseveres, however, thanks to her indominable spirit and support from friends, family, and new boyfriend Paul, and she still finds joy in the exhilarating experience of being independent in New York City—from eating pizza to finding inspiration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also grows as an artist with help from children’s author Mr. Hernandez, another teacher mentor, and Sohee, her South Korean roommate, who becomes a new friend. Gigi blossoms, overcoming setbacks with determination and grace. This concise story moves quickly, keeping pages turning. Gigi’s and Paul’s Korean heritage are cued subtly, and the friends’ varied ethnic and economic backgrounds were previously established.
A worthy sequel in which the protagonist matures and flourishes in an exciting urban atmosphere. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781665939201
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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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