A tale of family relationships and transitions told with plenty of heart.
Family, folklore, and honors long overdue.
Kaia watches as her family plays on the beach in Southern California. She knows this is the last summer before her older sister, Lainey, leaves for her graduation trip to the Philippines and then heads off to college in New York. When her great-grandfather Tatang announces he is moving back to the Philippines, Kaia is shocked. The thought of losing two close confidants at once springs her into action. She will develop her special-effects makeup skills and win a citywide film contest with her friends as a grand sendoff for Tatang. Kaia’s focus is on her film, inspired by Filipinx folklore, until she learns that Tatang served in the U.S. military during World War II only to be robbed of promised citizenship and honors. Her strategy then becomes twofold: She continues on the film while filling out an application for Tatang to finally receive a Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Kaia’s family is originally from the Ilocos region of the Philippines, and tidbits of Filipinx folklore and culture are woven into the story—at times the explanations of these cultural themes impede the narrative flow. However, as she did in The House That Lou Built (2018), Respicio brings another refreshing contemporary glimpse into the Filipinx American experience while exposing the overlooked history and contributions of Filipinos in the U.S.
A tale of family relationships and transitions told with plenty of heart. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-70757-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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