Charming and uplifting, and a touching example of perseverance during uncertain times.
An inspiring tale about finding home and having meaningful experiences along the way.
Twelve-year-old Queenie Anderson of Curlew Point, Australia, just found out that her family’s landlady is selling her beloved home. The timing is bad: Queenie, who reads white, had summoned the courage to play guitar and sing at her school’s end-of-year concert. But after her former-bestie-turned-archrival, Sparrow Hawkins, who presents Black, performed Queenie’s chosen song, “Ocean Eyes,” right before Queenie’s turn, she lost her nerve and fled. Queenie and her widowed mum temporarily relocate to an empty unit at Diamond Sands Senior Village, her mother’s workplace. But Queenie’s spirits are lifted after she meets purple-haired, 93-year-old Audrey, becomes the choir leader, and oversees the community Christmas concert. Inspired by Audrey, Queenie decides to perform at the show, but unfortunately, Sparrow, who’s visiting her grandfather, a Diamond Sands resident, also takes the stage—and she chooses “Silent Night,” the same song Queenie planned on singing. When their unit is needed for someone else, Queenie and Mum become renters, living with the family of Dory, a boy from school who’s a chess whiz and a bit of a loner. Readers will relate to Queenie’s mixed emotions over the upheaval in her life as well as her journey to building real friendships with Sparrow and Dory. The mother-daughter bond and other relationships forged through Queenie’s moves are winning elements in this heartfelt story of silver linings.
Charming and uplifting, and a touching example of perseverance during uncertain times. (QR code for songs) (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781536235838
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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