An empowering story about boys and men learning to reinvent themselves in the wake of pain and tragedy.
A 13-year-old bull rider unpacks masculinity, self-inflicted expectations, and finding one’s purpose.
Canyon Cress wants to win the Junior Bull Riding World Championship to impress his longtime rodeo friends, Dakota and Tate, garner a life-changing $10,000, and (he believes) return his alcoholic father to the great man he was before Canyon’s mother died in an accident. In the meantime, Canyon watches over little sister Josie and resents the trappings of their low-income life, including a torn-up couch, mac and cheese dinners, and free school lunches. He finds much-needed adult support from Grandma, Uncle Ty, and bullfighter Ray, all of whom worry each time Canyon climbs onto a bull. Canyon wrestles with living up to his father’s legacy as an accomplished bull rider and with the “cowboy up” mindset that means never quitting. Canyon’s mother was a gifted fiddler, and his own regular playing brings him the healing, calming power of music—and, perhaps, a concussion-free alternative to his favorite sport. The story cites real-world fiddle songs and rodeo champions, lending credibility and immersive authenticity to Canyon’s interests. Early emotional beats pay off in big, earned tearjerker moments by the end, and secondary characters’ backstories develop in a satisfying way over the course of this story, which will hold appeal for fans of Gary D. Schmidt’s Orbiting Jupiter and Jupiter Rising. Most characters are coded white, and Ray is Black.
An empowering story about boys and men learning to reinvent themselves in the wake of pain and tragedy. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781547616060
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: today
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
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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