A competent, if somewhat belabored take on sensitive family issues.
Twelve-year-old Maggie’s contented life is disrupted.
Sure, only child Maggie’s parents insist they all eat dinner together at the table, and they are big on engaging her in dinner conversation, but though she complains a bit, she is secretly happy that they are so persistent about communicating with her. And she is glad she doesn’t have best friend Olive’s life, with a chaotic little brother, or other BFF Rachel’s situation, with family members who eat separately in front of various screens. While Maggie is nervous about being in middle school, she knows her parents are always there for her. Plus, she has her beloved grandmother, who has taught her about interior design—something Maggie adores and shares with her BFFs. But everything starts to unravel when a previously unknown 13-year-old half brother from an affair her father had shows up and, on top of that, Maggie’s grandmother shows signs of Alzheimer’s. While the storyline admirably tackles difficult issues with compassion and evenhandedness, the writing overall feels more dutiful than original. Many scenes seem contrived to lead up to a neatly wrapped message that is insistently spelled out instead of being presented for readers to discover for themselves. The overarching interior design metaphor stretches itself thin in Maggie’s first-person–narration revelations. Characters are White by default.
A competent, if somewhat belabored take on sensitive family issues. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-79720-123-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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
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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