An emotionally perceptive story of awakening compassion for self and others.
A new life in a new country does not, at first, bring the fresh start Callie hoped for.
Seventh grader Callie; her 7-year-old brother, Jax; and their parents leave San Diego after inheriting a castle in the Scottish countryside. Callie’s parents, who as grad students rented a cottage on the grounds and became close to the late owner, Lady Whittington-Spence, begin much-needed renovations. Callie, who departed California ostracized by her friends, imagines the cachet of being the exotic American in her new school. However, while the ebullient Jax quickly settles in, Callie embarrasses herself on her first visit to the local school. Burning with shame, she persuades her parents to let her try home schooling and (eventually) makes friends with Sid, the prickly granddaughter of her parents’ gardener. Most excitingly, she uncovers a journal kept by one Pippa Spence when she was evacuated to the Highlands during World War II. Pippa was a keen bird-watcher, and, as Callie reads her journal, excerpts of which are interspersed, and explores the grounds and its bird life with Sid, she starts to put down roots and gain a new perspective on painful events back home. This character-driven story of introspection and growth will appeal to thoughtful readers. The intensely awkward self-consciousness of the middle school years is presented with realistic sensitivity and insight. Main characters are White, and there is natural, realistic diversity in the supporting cast.
An emotionally perceptive story of awakening compassion for self and others. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7121-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
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
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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