Two thumbs up for this necessary novel about anxiety and self-advocacy.
A Portland, Oregon, girl pushes through doubt for a cause she believes in.
Olive Blackwood, a Black seventh grader, looks at the world with a director’s eye, just like her deceased dad did. But, unlike Dad, when Olive is center stage, her anxiety takes over. Luckily, her outgoing best friend, Kayla, has star power, making it easy for Olive to quietly blend in. When she’s paired with confident Jo (who is vegan and uses they/them pronouns) and subdued David for her film class’s competition, Olive will need to learn to trust her instincts if she wants to win and get her teacher’s recommendation for a prestigious summer film camp. After Olive films an angry woman who’s chasing a beaver—and the beaver is later found dead—she makes a short movie urging viewers to advocate for wildlife protection. Its success and impact motivate Olive to go off-script and start directing her own life. The issues that contribute to Olive’s anxiety are woven throughout the book and are portrayed in a realistic way that doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable. The activism themes highlight the different means kids may take to effect change while also using technology responsibly. The supporting characters are wonderfully developed catalysts for Olive’s emotional journey; Olive’s story arc with Kayla frames the adolescent challenge of growing up with, apart from, and alongside childhood friends.
Two thumbs up for this necessary novel about anxiety and self-advocacy. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781665939331
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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
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
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