When Zack, manager of a fleet of lunch vans, urges his crew to wear T-backs ("a bathing suit that covered as little as it left to the imagination"), Chloa's aunt Bernadette is the one holdout. Chloa, 12, is in Florida for the summer; she's promised her stepdad to help his sister and to "give the unexpected a chance." Construction crews flock to the vans staffed by the shapely conformists; Bernadette's profits fall, and she's demoted to a still less lucrative spot. Meanwhile, Chloâ helps out, and mischievously tries to convince the mildly obnoxious 13-year-old son of one of the T-back wearers that her aunt is a witch; and a right-wing religious group organizes "Citizens Opposing All T- backs" ("COAT"). The plot thickens (rather implausibly) when COAT, failing to enlist Bernadette, demands that she defend herself against their charge of witchcraft. But admirers of Konigsburg won't be surprised to find that that's no more the crux of her novel than the indecent clothing issue. In the end, what Bernadette successfully defends is her right to choose, without explaining. She and Chloa also establish a warm relationship, of value to both, while Chloa learns (like Claudia in From the Mixed-Up Files...) that she's responsible for her own identity. The author's forthright, staccato style and witty descriptions are marvelous; occasional interpolated anecdotes (e.g., a succinct thriller about how Bernadette got her dog; lively precis of Savonarola and Galileo) amplify the theme and characterizations. Offbeat, comic, thought-provoking: a top-notch author at full strength. (Fiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1993
ISBN: 0-689-31855-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A beautiful, moving mythological adventure.
In a world based on Greek mythology, a 12-year-old aspires to be a Ferryer of the dead but gets off track when she meets a Living girl who’s found her way into the Underworld.
All Senka knows is her existence on an island in the middle of the Acheron River, “smack between the realm of the Living and the realm of the Dead,” where she’s the ward of Charon, the Ferryer of souls. Her teacher is an enormous raven named Mortimer. After Senka, who presents white, learns the Rules for Ferryers, Charon agrees to her repeated requests and starts training her to become a Ferryer. But when an emergency leads to Senka’s being left alone, she disobeys Charon’s explicit orders, takes the boat out on her own—and quickly learns that ferrying souls is far more complicated than she realized. She encounters dark-haired, brown-skinned Poppy, whose “edges are crisp”—she’s a Living girl who will sacrifice anything to find Joey, her younger brother who died. As Senka tries to convince Poppy to return to the Shore of the Living, the two get stuck in the Underwild, a “lawless place where chaos reigns” that’s filled with innumerable dangers and shrouded in secrets. Senka’s lively first-person narration relates the unexpected friendship that forms through her shared adventures with Poppy as they face mortality and the unknown. Debut author Targosz offers readers a meaningful exploration of grief and its impact on those left behind.
A beautiful, moving mythological adventure. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781665957632
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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