A young girl’s bumpy life begets an uplifting narrative journey.
In High’s middle-grade road-trip novel, a tween searches for her missing mother, who suffers from mental illness and addiction.
Ruby Bean hasn’t seen her mom in a week. This has happened before; 33-year-old Ruthie is afflicted with substance-use and schizo-affective disorders and occasionally disappears from her Georgia home. Luckily, Ruby’s grandparents live nearby, and she can always rely on Aunt Marion, Ruthie’s older sister. Ruby and Marion put their heads together to track where Ruthie has been and where she’s likely headed, leading them to such metropolises as Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Along the way, they run into Ruby’s estranged father (whom she’d never previously met) and people living on the street (Ruthie’s preferred crowd). Two among the unhoused, bubbly Daisy and warmhearted Benny, even join their search. Ruby struggles with wanting her mother back while also craving a more conventional kind of life. Their quest ultimately leads them all to a crime that, unfortunately, Ruthie may have committed. High ably tackles the serious issues depicted herein; Ruby unequivocally loves and worries about her troubled mother, but she’s also fed up with constantly explaining Ruthie’s condition to others. The narrative nevertheless remains firmly upbeat as Ruby, usually a loner, scours the East Coast with her devoted aunt and newly earned friends. Their road trip brims with misadventures (including the tribulations of New York parking) and humor (Daisy and Benny playfully bicker over which rock band sings a certain song). Ruby’s colorful descriptions further enliven the pages, from “green-ink trees” and a “blue ceiling” sky to her affectionate nickname for Marion’s bright-yellow compact car: “Kiki Sunshine.” The novel’s heady mix of realism and buoyancy carries all the way to the extraordinary ending. Dzamesi’s spectacular black-and-white artwork renders such indelible recurring images as Ruby’s big, soulful eyes and Daisy’s even bigger hat.
A young girl’s bumpy life begets an uplifting narrative journey.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781947159877
Page Count: 184
Publisher: One Elm Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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