If the strong lyrical voice can’t quite compensate for the plot’s awkward execution, it points to a reservoir of...
In the Australian detention camp where he was born and still lives, Subhi, 10, a Rohingya boy, shares a crowded tent with his mother, older sister, and other refugees and dreams of an unbounded world and the Night Sea.
Stories feed Subhi’s vivid imagination, especially the ones his mother tells of life back in Burma, but Maá rarely speaks now. Camp living conditions are dire: borderline inedible food, appalling sanitation, and the Jackets’ inhumane treatment, which ranges from indifferent to cruel (kindly guard Harvey is the exception). Subhi helps his friend Eli trade valuable items among detainees until Eli is sent to live with the adult single men; then his companionship is limited to the Shakespeare duck, a rubber duck he keeps in his pocket to talk to—and who talks back in his portion of the narration. Near the camp, another child, Jimmie, also 10, lives with her father and brother. Jimmie treasures but can’t yet read her deceased mother’s notebook of stories. Following a (false) rumor that detained kids have bikes, Jimmie sneaks into the camp unnoticed. After meeting Subhi, who’s happy to read the stories to her, she visits frequently, bringing hot chocolate and snacks. These easily accomplished visits don’t square with the established gulaglike conditions and contradict the brutal realities already conveyed. Suspenseful but less-consequential, this weaker subplot dilutes the starker, more powerful tragedy and, like Jimmie’s character, is less fleshed out. Readers will trip over the plot’s loose ends.
If the strong lyrical voice can’t quite compensate for the plot’s awkward execution, it points to a reservoir of underutilized talent in an author worth watching. (afterword) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-8151-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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