Next book

DEAR MOTHMAN

Poignant and sincere.

Grieving the loss of his best friend, an autistic transgender boy in a former coal-mining town in Pennsylvania dedicates himself to finding a cryptid for the sixth grade science fair.

Unlike Lewis, Noah only pretended to believe in Mothman, but he doesn’t have any other ideas for his project, because Lewis is all he’s thought about since the car crash three months ago. Desperate for evidence, he writes a note to Mothman in a journal, leaving it under a tree in his yard. The next morning, Noah finds the notebook open to his letter. Scared and yearning for a friend who understands him, Noah pours his heart into completing the project even though no one else believes in it. Written in first-person verse and accompanied by pencil-sketch–style illustrations, the text alternates between Noah’s reflective and earnest letters to Mothman and his narration of his school and home lives. Throughout, Noah questions what it means to be a monster. His exploration of monstrosity ties together themes of loneliness, discrimination, self-identification, and community. He expresses the value and necessity of support while acknowledging the barriers and challenges in seeking it. Gow captures the complexity of emotions that arise amid grief and self-discovery. Moments of humor, joy, and curiosity intertwine with heartache as Noah makes new friends and starts opening up about his queerness and gender identity. Noah is of Irish and Italian descent; Gow depicts ethnic diversity in the world around him.

Poignant and sincere. (Verse novel. 9-13)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-4197-6440-0

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Amulet/Abrams

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Next book

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

From the School for Good and Evil series , Vol. 1

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

Next book

I AM REBEL

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

Close Quickview