Sixth-grader Hero Netherfield knows she’s in trouble when, on her first day at her new school in Maryland, a classmate unthinkingly announces that Hero is her dog’s name. Despite the inevitable humiliations that ensue, things look up for Hero when she discovers that her family (including her beautiful older sister Beatrice, graphic-designer mom and Shakespeare-obsessed dad) has moved into the “Murphy Diamond House,” where a centuries-old, million-dollar diamond might be hidden. Mrs. Roth, the kindly next-door neighbor, plies Hero with cinnamon toast and tantalizing information about said diamond, and they become fast friends with each other . . . and, interestingly, with the cutest, most popular boy in the eighth grade, Danny Cordova. The plot thickens as Mrs. Roth reveals that she is in possession of the Elizabethan necklace that once held the missing Murphy diamond, an artifact that may even help illuminate the much-debated identity of Shakespeare himself. More linear and traditionally evidence-driven than Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer (2004), this agreeable history-mystery may have even more appeal to budding sleuths. (author’s note, historical timeline) (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-8050-7387-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2005
Categories: CHILDREN'S MYSTERY & THRILLER | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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There’s a monster in Sidwell, Massachusetts, that can only be seen at night or, as Twig reveals, if passersby are near her house.
It’s her older brother, James, born with wings just like every male in the Fowler line for the last 200 years. They were cursed by the Witch of Sidwell, left brokenhearted by their forebear Lowell Fowler. Twig and James are tired of the secret and self-imposed isolation. Lonely Twig narrates, bringing the small town and its characters to life, intertwining events present and past, and describing the effects of the spell on her fractured family’s daily life. Longing for some normalcy and companionship, she befriends new-neighbor Julia while James falls in love with Julia’s sister, Agate—only to learn they are descendants of the Witch. James and Agate seem as star-crossed as their ancestors, especially when the townspeople attribute a spate of petty thefts and graffiti protesting the development of the woods to the monster and launch a hunt. The mix of romance and magic is irresistible and the tension, compelling. With the help of friends and through a series of self-realizations and discoveries, Twig grows more self-assured. She is certain she knows how to change the curse. In so doing, Twig not only changes James’ fate, but her own, for the first time feeling the fullness of family, friends and hope for the future.
Enchanting. (Magical realism. 9-12)Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-38958-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
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A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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