A heartwarming story with an inspiring message about creative youth activism.
A tween’s summer is spent making new friends and memories—and a difference for her family and community.
Georgiana Matthews is an 11-year-old Black girl who lives in Snellville, Georgia, but is spending the summer in Bogalusa, Louisiana, with relatives: Her mother’s Aunt Vie has Alzheimer’s, and the toll it’s taken on her family is significant. Georgie wishes for more opportunities to help out, such as working at Aunt Vie’s renowned diner and the freedom to explore the area on her own, but her overprotective mother is resistant. Discontented, hopeless, and bored, Georgie decides to take the initiative and organize a talent contest to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Foundation in honor of her great-aunt. She enlists the help of 12-year-old Markie Jean, a girl who works at the diner and who was formerly fostered by Aunt Vie, and Georgie’s best friend, Nikki, who arrives for a surprise visit. So begins Georgie’s summer of newfound independence, friendship, and adventure, during which she discovers truths about herself and her family. Youngblood’s writing fluidly delivers a compelling narrative imbued with historical and cultural context. The novel highlights the significance of kinship and fighting for what you believe is right. The strong pacing and peppering of historical events and pop-culture references will have readers increasingly invested with each turn of the page. Most characters are Black.
A heartwarming story with an inspiring message about creative youth activism. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5520-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways.
Devotion permeates this tale of a small dog who’s swept up in a peasants’ revolt against a greedy king.
Inflamed with righteousness in the wake of yet another tax hike, 12-year-old Tom has defied his parents to slip away and join the revolutionary Reds. Stoutly declaring that he’s a good dog, 5-year-old Rebel chases after him to bring his beloved boy back—and discovers a wide new world beyond the farm, fraught with dangers but also rich in animal friends offering help and advice. Just as beguiling as the furry narrator’s dog’s-eye view of events are his ongoing arguments with Jaxon, a gruff feral hound he meets along the way, who urges him to find his wild inner True Dog. Jaxon’s refusal to be bound by emotional attachments ultimately clashes with Rebel’s big, uncomplicated heart. Following a brush with death, Rebel encounters a mystical Companion, who offers him glimpses of dog heaven; when the climactic battle arrives, Rebel declares, “I get to decide what I do with my one and only life. And if I use it for anything, I’m going to use it for love.” The author brings the odyssey to a satisfactory conclusion with one last, pure affirmation of love. In this story set in an alternate Britain reminiscent of its 17th-century Civil War, Rebel distinguishes humans in the cast by their voices, smell, and dress.
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781536246797
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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