Little girls, little girls…they can be mean sometimes. Deja’s birthday is coming up, and she is filled with all the anticipation a soon-to-be-eight-year-old can hold. Will her absent father come? Will she get the special ring from her Auntie Dee? Things fall apart when Antonia, Deja’s nemesis, decides to have a “just because” sundae-and-trampoline party at the same time, with the result that everyone chooses Antonia’s party. This straightforward plot explores Deja’s reaction to the unexpected turn and makes few judgments of who is right and wrong. Perhaps Antonia is jealous of Deja and Nikki’s close friendship? Maybe she didn’t sabotage Deja’s party? In the end, when Deja finds out how much she means to her Auntie, she gets the best present of all. A clear typeface, ample white space and Freeman’s occasional black-and-white illustrations make this accessible to new chapter-book readers, although a note printed in unlinked cursive might confuse some. Likable and independent African-American girls are a rare find in early chapter books—let’s hope these two can start a trend. (Fiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-618-97787-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2008
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Brown introduces a smart, young protagonist with a multicultural background in this series opener for chapter-book readers.
Second-grader Lola Levine is half-Peruvian and half-Jewish; she is a skilled soccer player, a persuasive writer, and aspires to own a cat in the near future should her parents concede. During a friendly recess soccer match, Lola, playing goalie, defends an incoming ball by coming out of her box and accidentally fouls a classmate. And so Lola acquires the rhyming nickname Mean Lola Levine. Through Lola’s first-person narration, readers see clearly how her savvy and creativity come from her family: Dad, who paints, Mom, who writes, and a fireball younger brother. She also wears her bicultural identity easily. In her narration, her letters to her friends, and dialogue, Lola easily inserts such words as diario, tía, bubbe, and shalom. For dinner, the family eats matzo ball soup, Peruvian chicken, and flan. Interspersed throughout the story are references to all-star soccer athletes, from Brazilian master Pelé to Mia Hamm, Briana Scurry, and David Beckham. Dominguez’s black-and-white illustrations are cheery and appealing, depicting a long-haired Caucasian father and dark-skinned, black-haired mother. Typefaces that emulate penmanship appropriately differ from character to character: Lola’s is small and clean, her mother’s is tall and slanted, while Juan’s, the injured classmate, is sloppy and lacks finesse.
Celebrate a truly accepting multicultural character. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-25836-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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