Though readers may root for “Team Everybody” (and perhaps crave some pancakes), the heavy-handed lessons make this feel-good...
Cooper (Sticks and Stones, 2016) revisits quirky maladies and middle school friendships.
Brown-skinned, mixed-race (Latina/white) 12-year-old Sophie Mulvaney and her mother used to be “Adventurous Girls.” But ever since Sophie’s mother broke up with her boyfriend, Pratik, and lost her job, she’s been depressed, and Sophie blames herself. Worse, Sophie suddenly notices comic-strip–style bubbles above people’s heads that broadcast their thoughts—or so she thinks. Her friends, anxious Kaya, described as having dark-brown skin, and “hyper” Argentine-American Rafael, miss her adventurous nature. Fortunately, a social studies group project conveniently addresses Sophie’s situation: risk-taking. As the friends tackle their respective fears to train for a triathlon, Sophie’s mother faces her depression. Meanwhile, Sophie addresses the thought bubbles she sees with the aid of a therapist, which the author handles straightforwardly. Sophie’s bubbles are never diagnosed; like Sophie’s frequent allusions to historical events, they’re simply a vehicle for a moral. Even Sophie’s interest in history itself becomes a metaphor for her development as she learns people aren’t always what they seem; her only unscathed trait is her obsession with pancakes. Her friends are barely developed, and a snooty white classmate is a lonely cliché. Though the author inserts a few roadblocks, the ending is almost too pat to be believable.
Though readers may root for “Team Everybody” (and perhaps crave some pancakes), the heavy-handed lessons make this feel-good story a bit of a slog. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-30290-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
During a school year in which a gifted teacher who emphasizes personal responsibility among his fifth graders ends up in a coma from a thrown snowball, his students come to terms with their own issues and learn to be forgiving. Told in short chapters organized month-by-month in the voices of seven students, often describing the same incident from different viewpoints, this weaves together a variety of not-uncommon classroom characters and situations: the new kid, the trickster, the social bully, the super-bright and the disaffected; family clashes, divorce and death; an unwed mother whose long-ago actions haven't been forgotten in the small-town setting; class and experiential differences. Mr. Terupt engineers regular visits to the school’s special-needs classroom, changing some lives on both sides. A "Dollar Word" activity so appeals to Luke that he sprinkles them throughout his narrative all year. Danielle includes her regular prayers, and Anna never stops her hopeful matchmaking. No one is perfect in this feel-good story, but everyone benefits, including sentimentally inclined readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73882-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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