The perils of preteen friendship, ghost-hunting, and solving a theft make for pleasant reading.
A ghost may be haunting the New York Public Library in this novel published in partnership with the venerable institution.
It’s the Roaring ’20s, and 11-year-old Viviani, nicknamed “Red,” is living in the very best house, the main building of the New York Public Library (now called the Stephen A. Schwartzman Building). Her father is the building superintendent, and she and her brothers enjoy playing baseball using books as bases. But stories and storytelling are her true love. “Their truth was in their fun, not in their facts.” With a friend and her two older brothers, Viviani tries to impress the new girl in her class, Merit Mubarak, just relocated from Egypt, with a tale that a ghost—real to Viviani but questionable to Merit—inhabits the building. At the same time, valuable stamps are stolen from a special exhibit, making their nighttime ghost-hunting expedition all the more exciting and scary. Tubb, who addresses readers as “Dear Friend,” begins each chapter with a subject heading, Dewey Decimal number, and see-also references. Forget kids—librarians will love it. There are neighborhood references and interesting details about the library building, staff, special collections, and the lions out front. Viviani and her family are based in fact and were white. Bruno’s line drawings help establish the time period.
The perils of preteen friendship, ghost-hunting, and solving a theft make for pleasant reading. (author’s note, timeline, archival photographs) (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-14380-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 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
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