It’s hard to write with such simple authenticity: The world needs more stories like this.
A geography-obsessed girl faces a summer of near-impossible change.
Eleven-year-old Ginny and her 12-year-old sister, Allie, already know they’re moving from North Carolina to Maryland the week after school lets out. Their dad is an Army doctor, and he’s transferred regularly. But Dad learns he’s instead being deployed to Afghanistan right away, just as they are about to move. Then, the geography camp Ginny was counting on gets canceled, and she’s wait-listed for the STEM magnet school. While her outgoing, athletic sister enjoys getting to know the kids in their new neighborhood, Ginny recites geography facts; reads about Marie Tharp, her favorite geographer; obsesses about her father, who isn’t responding to her messages; and makes a disastrous attempt at running her own geography camp. When her father finally calls, her emotions are overwhelming, and Ginny blows up—and then, gradually, realistically, and sympathetically, begins to understand other people’s points of view, try activities outside her comfort zone, and make friends without sacrificing or disguising her true self. It’s all very believable and very well done, from the wide range of fully developed characters to the realistic challenges of being a military family. Ginny’s quirky and engaging voice pushes this story to a lovely conclusion. Main characters read White; some of Ginny’s new neighborhood friends are Black and Indian American. Chapters open with interesting geography facts, and delightful spot art throughout enhances the text.
It’s hard to write with such simple authenticity: The world needs more stories like this. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9780316324625
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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