A promising story that doesn’t quite find its footing.
Two Filipino sisters living with their mean stepmother discover hope in unexpected places.
Kelly (Blackbird Fly, 2015) returns to southern Louisiana in her second book. Twelve-year-old Sol has no family left except for her youngest sister, Ming. Soon after they immigrated to a small Louisiana town, their father returned to the Philippines, abandoning the sisters with their unhappy stepmother, Vea. Sol imagines herself and Ming as princesses fighting an evil dragon in order to endure their stepmother’s verbal and physical abuse, their subsidized apartment building becoming a fairy-tale tower. She and her best friend, Manny, befriend a white girl from the other side of town, and Sol begins to rely less on her stories while Ming desperately holds on. When Ming announces that an aunt will save the sisters from their evil stepmother, Sol can’t bear to tell Ming that the aunt doesn’t exist. Always the strong older sister, she desperately searches for a solution before her heated relationship with Vea explodes. Kelly deftly captures the tumultuous emotions of a preteen who is forced to grow up faster than other girls her age. The book focuses mostly on Sol’s inner struggles, however, and it lacks the momentum to turn its quiet characters into a full-blown tale that effectively handles the class and race issues that it touches upon.
A promising story that doesn’t quite find its footing. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-223864-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick.
An elderly witch, a magical girl, a brave carpenter, a wise monster, a tiny dragon, paper birds, and a madwoman converge to thwart a magician who feeds on sorrow.
Every year Elders of the Protectorate leave a baby in the forest, warning everyone an evil Witch demands this sacrifice. In reality, every year, a kind witch named Xan rescues the babies and find families for them. One year Xan saves a baby girl with a crescent birthmark who accidentally feeds on moonlight and becomes “enmagicked.” Magic babies can be tricky, so Xan adopts little Luna herself and lovingly raises her, with help from an ancient swamp monster and a chatty, wee dragon. Luna’s magical powers emerge as her 13th birthday approaches. Meanwhile, Luna’s deranged real mother enters the forest to find her daughter. Simultaneously, a young carpenter from the Protectorate enters the forest to kill the Witch and end the sacrifices. Xan also enters the forest to rescue the next sacrificed child, and Luna, the monster, and the dragon enter the forest to protect Xan. In the dramatic denouement, a volcano erupts, the real villain attempts to destroy all, and love prevails. Replete with traditional motifs, this nontraditional fairy tale boasts sinister and endearing characters, magical elements, strong storytelling, and unleashed forces. Luna has black eyes, curly, black hair, and “amber” skin.
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61620-567-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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