January 27, 2026 by Holiday House
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Serendipity is very lucky, and very active in her school. She's the captain of the girls' basketball team, President of her class, and the lead in the school play. When she wins a radio contest (yet again!), she takes her best friend Basil to the carnival with her. There, she wins a giant stuffed narwhal, but it proves her undoing when the toy crashes into a fortune telling machine, and is cursed by it after it is knocked over. Things start going wrong everywhere, starting with a bad hair day. Panicked, Serendipity tries to undo the curse by visiting another student, Evelina, who runs a business out of the janitor's closet, but the counter spell doesn't seem to work. Basil opines that maybe Serendipity is just too busy, and if she slowed down, she would be able to concentrate and wouldn't have as many problems, but Serendipity believes in the curse. She can't remember her lines, blows plays, and is challenged for class officer by someone who promises classmates free cookies every day. After assessing other things in her life that might be contributing to her bad luck, Serendipity tries to get rid of her black cat, Tuna, but ends up breaking a mirror! Eventually, she goes back to the fortune teller, and realizes that the curse isn't real. She starts to improve her life, nominates her vice president for president, and scales back her activities so she can do a better job.
Strengths: It's always fun to read about tweens who are involved in activities, and it's not uncommon for actual tweens to get overwhelmed from time to time. Serendipity has a hard time on the basketball court playing like a good team mate and not hogging the ball, she wants to have a big role in the play but slows down production by not knowing her lines, and is conflicted about holding office. She does have a good friend in Basil, who tries to help her balance her life, and has other people involved in her activities who also try to help her. Interestingly, there is very little about Serendipity's home life; we see her cat, but I'm not sure we saw parents. Readers who like graphic novels will find the artwork appealing.
Weaknesses: I'm still not sure whether Serendipity was really cursed, or whether she just thought she was. It's kind of like the situation in Pastis' Timmy Failure; is the polar bear real or imaginary? Young Readers won't think too hard about this.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who can't get enough of graphic problem novels like Scrivener's Nat Enough or Vivat's Frazzled.
Weaknesses: I'm still not sure whether Serendipity was really cursed, or whether she just thought she was. It's kind of like the situation in Pastis' Timmy Failure; is the polar bear real or imaginary? Young Readers won't think too hard about this.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who can't get enough of graphic problem novels like Scrivener's Nat Enough or Vivat's Frazzled.
No comments:
Post a Comment