Intelligent, intricately plotted, and ultimately moving.
Thirteen-year-old Hope Smith learns the value of family.
Hope and her twin brother, Gordon, have been brought up by their single mom, who, despite working two jobs, can only afford a cheap motel room for them to live in. The twins, unbeknownst to their mother, find out that their father was a member of the wealthy Winterton family, publishers of The Winterton Dictionary and sponsors of a lucrative local spelling bee. Gordon wants to participate—he wants to know more about the Wintertons—but Hope resents the very thought of them. Eventually, desperately needing the prize money, Hope and her mother agree she’ll take part too. The weeklong competition, held at the grand Winterton Chalet, has overtones of Agatha Christie as all the contestants (most of whom are estranged members of the Winterton family) arrive. Once ensconced, each family receives an unexpected letter unrelated to the spelling bee: It describes a missing original Jane Austen manuscript and gives the first clue in a treasure hunt to find it. The winner gets to keep the manuscript, worth millions. The intriguing plot adroitly unveils family dynamics and secrets against the backdrop of the dual tensions of nail-biting daily spelling bees and the competition to solve the scavenger hunt clues. Hope’s chip-on-the-shoulder personality is thoroughly unlikable for a large portion of the book—and is essential for the ending to work (which it does). Hope and Gordon are cued white; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast.
Intelligent, intricately plotted, and ultimately moving. (family tree) (Mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9781645951964
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Pixel+Ink
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high...
Two parallel stories, one of a Syrian boy from Aleppo fleeing war, and another of a white American boy, son of a NATO contractor, dealing with the challenges of growing up, intersect at a house in Brussels.
Ahmed lost his father while crossing the Mediterranean. Alone and broke in Europe, he takes things into his own hands to get to safety but ends up having to hide in the basement of a residential house. After months of hiding, he is discovered by Max, a boy of similar age and parallel high integrity and courage, who is experiencing his own set of troubles learning a new language, moving to a new country, and being teased at school. In an unexpected turn of events, the two boys and their new friends Farah, a Muslim Belgian girl, and Oscar, a white Belgian boy, successfully scheme for Ahmed to go to school while he remains in hiding the rest of the time. What is at stake for Ahmed is immense, and so is the risk to everyone involved. Marsh invites art and history to motivate her protagonists, drawing parallels to gentiles who protected Jews fleeing Nazi terror and citing present-day political news. This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace.
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high values in the face of grave risk and succeed in drawing goodwill from others. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-30757-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when...
Two sisters make an unauthorized expedition to their former hometown and in the process bring together the two parts of their divided family.
Dooley packs plenty of emotion into this eventful road trip, which takes place over the course of less than 24 hours. Twelve-year-old Ophelia, nicknamed Fella, and her 16-year-old sister, Zoey Grace, aka Zany, are the daughters of a lesbian couple, Shannon and Lacy, who could not legally marry. The two white girls squabble and share memories as they travel from West Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina, where Zany is determined to scatter Mama Lacy’s ashes in accordance with her wishes. The year is 2004, before the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and the girls have been separated by hostile, antediluvian custodial laws. Fella’s present-tense narration paints pictures not just of the difficulties they face on the trip (a snowstorm, car trouble, and an unlikely thief among them), but also of their lives before Mama Lacy’s illness and of the ways that things have changed since then. Breathless and engaging, Fella’s distinctive voice is convincingly childlike. The conversations she has with her sister, as well as her insights about their relationship, likewise ring true. While the girls face serious issues, amusing details and the caring adults in their lives keep the tone relatively light.
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when Fella’s family figures out how to come together in a new way . (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-16504-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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