Good as a nostalgia trip for the original fans of Fear Street—but it will probably leave their children cold.
A tale of revenge on Fear Street—nothing new there.
It’s 1950. Beth’s father is just about to open his own stable after years of working for thankless Martin Dooley, but Martin and his thugs can’t let that happen. All Beth’s “tricks”—magic taught her by her grandmother—can’t save her beloved father, and she has to run from his murderers. Decades later, a mysterious girl starts hanging out with Michael Frost and his friends. After a snowmobile accident in which it seems they kill another teen, the friends begin getting threatening messages…and Michael’s friends start dying. Does the new girl need help—or is something else going on? Stine’s third of six new Fear Street novels is longer and more violent than the originals, as well as more histrionic, melodramatic, and unrealistic. Timelines and characters don’t quite make sense, and the whole reads like a string of plot clichés drawn from a hat. It’s the same easily read, jokey “horror” Stine’s made bank on for decades. Today’s horror readers know there are better scares out there.
Good as a nostalgia trip for the original fans of Fear Street—but it will probably leave their children cold. (Horror. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-05163-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin’s Griffin
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
A good story with some unexpected twists
After saving the life of a famous model, a 14-year-old Mexican-American boy learns the pressures of popularity and the definition of true heroism.
Dallas freshman Rawly Sánchez knows that life is not perfect. His older brother Jaime is in prison, while his mother’s Mexican restaurant is barely staying afloat. Now, he can’t even visit his brother on Saturdays anymore, or he will miss the required tutoring for the algebra class he is failing. Small bursts of happiness come in the comic books he loves and in hanging out with his nerdy, often-annoying, wisecracking Jewish best friend Nevin Steinberg. Things take a turn for the worse when someone accidentally sets a pig loose in his mom’s restaurant, and the incident makes the local news. Then, Nevin talks Rawly into performing as a duo at the school talent show, where he makes a fool of himself in front of his crush, Miyoko. Everything changes when Rawly misses his bus stop and ends up rescuing 22-year-old model Nikki Demetrius when her car plunges into a river. Instantly, Rawly is on the local and national news, hailed as a hero for saving Nikki’s life. The third-person narration follows Rawley’s journey as he learns who his real friends are and the difference between comic-book and real-world heroes.
A good story with some unexpected twists . (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55885-711-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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Though the footnotes feel gimmicky and distracting, readers will likely be able to look past them (or just skip over them)...
Cleverly woven through the titular encyclopedia—with entries as seemingly mundane as “Apple” and “Oxen”—is the touchingly real and often humorous story of a preteen’s struggles with family, friendship and first love.
Isadora “Tink” Aaron-Martin, nearly 13, means to make the most of her recent grounding by using her time on house arrest to write an encyclopedia, heavily annotated with footnotes. Frustrated by her reputation as the peacemaker, Tink’s entries about life with an autistic brother are fresh and painfully honest. Rivers doesn’t tiptoe around the destructive impact the syndrome can have on a family. Rather, through Tink, she explores what it’s like to grow up in a house where everyone is constantly walking on eggshells, waiting for the next violent outburst. But family isn’t the only place where Tink feels invisible. She also walks in the shadow of her “best friend,” Freddie Blue Anderson, who seems to care more about being “pops” (popular) than about Tink. It isn’t until a blue-haired skateboarder named Kai moves in next door that she gradually finds the strength to put herself first, both at home and at school.
Though the footnotes feel gimmicky and distracting, readers will likely be able to look past them (or just skip over them) and cheer for Tink as she comes into her own. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-31028-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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