Timely, compelling, and thrill-packed.
Estranged best friends reunite for an adventure with significant stakes.
It’s been over a year since the young descendants of the founders of BURN!!! magazine—a short-lived African American literary publication with a powerful legacy—met for cultural activities. Tech whiz Ashley, viral budding rapper David, pet rat–toting Charlie, and Zeus, whose great-great-grandfather is rumored to have left behind a clue to a hidden treasure, were a tightknit friend group. But Zeus’ grandfather shut down their exclusive club—and mysteriously disappeared. Now Zeus feels that getting the crew back together, with help from his grandpa’s white butler, is the only way to solve this challenging puzzle that reeks of foul play, but their reunion is initially bumpy due to some complicated dynamics. The brisk pace and the kids’ impressive savvy make for an original jet-setting adventure informed by Black creativity and trivia; Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” frames many of the clues. The kids—Zeus is the youngest at 12, and David is the eldest at 14—anchor Banks’ debut novel’s smart exploration of race, politics, history, and literature. The hidden clues they piece together tell of an American history that’s characterized by continual injustice and heartbreak, including in their own families’ stories, whether on an Oklahoma plantation, in Chicago meat-processing plants, or in the artificially inflated prices of insulin. A cliffhanger ending that leaves room for a possible sequel arrives as the kids’ connections are strengthened, and the dangers rise to a crescendo.
Timely, compelling, and thrill-packed. (author’s note) (Mystery. 8-13)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781368110419
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Melissa de la Cruz Studio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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