A sincere story about being true to oneself and others.
Fandom and interpersonal struggles combine in this story of middle schoolers who form an unlikely bond.
Lonely Oregon 11-year-old Millie Nakakura has been home-schooled by intense parents who pressure her to excel at the flute, something she has grown to hate. They finally allow her to enroll at an arts academy, where she is overwhelmed by teachers’ unstated expectations. Socially adrift, she finds solace in her passion for Japanese pop quintet Generation Love. Then she meets Tina “Zuki” Suzuki through after-school J-Club. The club of two grows to five as social misfits Ashley Seo and Rainbow Chan and popular girl Luna Acevedo find their way in. But it’s not smooth sailing: Zuki is hiding serious problems at home, Ashley and Luna have an obviously tense history, Luna keeps her participation secret from her queen bee friends who viciously bully vegan Rainbow, and Millie lies to her parents about her failing grades and forbidden extracurricular activity. Their decision to enter a school show as a Generation Love cover act complicates matters; figuring everything out involves self-awareness and genuine contrition. At times the characters’ voices sound too mature for sixth grade, but everyone in this well-paced story grows emotionally, showing what loyal, courageous, and humanly imperfect relationships look like. Millie is half Japanese (her other half is not specified); other characters’ ethnicities are cued by their surnames, and Ashley is nonbinary.
A sincere story about being true to oneself and others. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-31374-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
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