Rejoice! 25 years later, Wayside School is still in session, and the children in Mrs. Jewls’ 30th-floor classroom haven’t changed a bit.
The surreal yet oddly educational nature of their misadventures hasn’t either. There are out-and-out rib ticklers, such as a spelling lesson featuring made-up words and a determined class effort to collect 1 million nail clippings. Additionally, mean queen Kathy steps through a mirror that turns her weirdly nice and she discovers that she likes it, a four-way friendship survives a dumpster dive after lost homework, and Mrs. Jewls makes sure that a long-threatened “Ultimate Test” allows every student to show off a special talent. Episodic though the 30 new chapters are, there are continuing elements that bind them—even to previous outings, such as the note to an elusive teacher Calvin has been carrying since Sideways Stories From Wayside School (1978) and finally delivers. Add to that plenty of deadpan dialogue (“Arithmetic makes my brain numb,” complains Dameon. “That’s why they’re called ‘numb-ers,’ ” explains D.J.) and a wild storm from the titular cloud that shuffles the school’s contents “like a deck of cards,” and Sachar once again dishes up a confection as scrambled and delicious as lunch lady Miss Mush’s improvised “Rainbow Stew.” Diversity is primarily conveyed in the illustrations.
Ordinary kids in an extraordinary setting: still a recipe for bright achievements and belly laughs. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-296538-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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The Deadtime Stories from the mid-1990s are rising again—this time in conjunction with a planned series of live-action TV-movies.
In this lightly edited reboot, preteen Amanda discovers an old doll buried in her backyard and shortly thereafter begins receiving ghostly messages written in sand or bathroom steam along the lines of “I want my baby back—now!” Then the doll disappears. Getting it back entails multiple encounters with Anna, the child ghost from whom it was stolen long ago, and the hostile, spooky old lady next door known to Amanda and friends as “Barnsey.” The shudders here are laboriously manufactured by contrived cliffhangers at each short chapter’s end, an obnoxious character who revels in sharing eerie rumors about Barnsey’s supposed witchy ways, nighttime expeditions into her yard and, particularly, with frequent screams: “And Kevin, who had been screaming his head off over Anna’s appearance, stopped screaming mid-scream the moment he saw Barnsey.” There’s no overt gore or violence, Anna fades away once she’s reunited with her doll and Barnsey, unsurprisingly, suddenly turns into a nice old lady.
Formula horror from the 1990s still feels formulaic today. (Horror. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7653-3065-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Starscape/Tom Doherty
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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BOOK REVIEW
A seasonal move down from the mountains proves adventurous for two Shoshone children in this short historical tale set in what will become Yellowstone National Park.
His seventh summer coming to an end, Two Hawk reluctantly stays behind when his father and older brother go to gather in the big net used to trap bighorn sheep, then, with the rest of the family, he prepares for the annual journey to the lowlands. Three incidents make the trip a memorable one: A mountain lion attacks; Two Hawk’s sister Pipit is nearly swept away in a river; and following vague rumors of white men riding “big dogs,” a strange “hairy-face man” with a fire shooting “stick” comes by for a meal—leaving a handful of beautiful beads in thanks and odd marks on a strip of bark: “J. Colter 1807.” Presumably this is John Colter, a historical figure, the first European in the area, though as there is no historical note, readers are deprived of this or, in fact, much other context. Along with references to water spirits, a magpie brings Two Hawk dreams of flight, timely help, and at the end, promises of long life and wisdom. This mystical thread is echoed in nine full-page paintings from Joaquín that depict physical events, the dream and a Coyote tale that Two Hawk’s father tells, all in the same feathery, indistinct style.
The frights are sharp but just momentary disturbances for a cozy, closely knit clan whose traditional way of life seems only distantly threatened by change. (Historical fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8032-6488-5
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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