Compellingly conveys the experience of living with an invisible, stigmatized disability.
Moving and changing schools frequently has allowed fourth grader Austin to conceal his inability to read—and prevented him from getting help.
Austin’s a large kid (repeating second grade didn’t help): shy, socially awkward, but quietly observant. Changing schools isn’t easy, but he’s learned what to expect, what’s expected of him, and how to handle it. Initially unresponsive when Bertie—a small, friendly classmate—appoints herself his guide, he slowly warms to her and the school while hiding his inability to decode letters that wave and wobble across the page. His ingenious workarounds include querying the “phone lady” (digital assistant) on his mom’s old phone, who answers questions and gives him a link to the audiobook he’s supposed to read. At school Austin’s especially impressed by the Safety Squad, a select cadre of fifth graders. Bertie encourages him to join. But how can he complete the application without disclosing his disability? While self-contained Austin projects the stoic resignation of children who’ve learned not to depend on adults, his troubled mom never comes into focus; how she supports them and why they move so frequently go unexplained. The parameters of Austin’s disability (or disabilities) are unclear. If his backstory is frustratingly thin, however, Austin himself is a fully realized character whose predicament, true and false assumptions, and choices ring true from beginning to end. Characters mostly present White; naming conventions suggest a diverse classroom.
Compellingly conveys the experience of living with an invisible, stigmatized disability. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-101-93294-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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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