Shows readers that being kind is more important than belonging to the right clique.
Science-crazy seventh grader Lily Blake Cooper hopes that transferring to a new middle school will transform her from nerdy geek to social butterfly.
At Lily’s old school, mean girl Courtenay and her bevy made her life hell; looks and money seemed to be all that mattered. Before embarking on a fresh start, Lily devises a science experiment to try to solve the mystery of middle school popularity. However, science turns out not to be the ideal tool for making these life changes. Deciding to go by Blake and improving her wardrobe help, but the new school turns out to have plenty of pitfalls of its own. The coveted science club is superserious and less fun than the kitchen science Lily loves, not to mention that here the science-y kids rule, looking down on those who are less successful academically. A series of messy pranks target Lily and her classmates, and eventually a cruel prank which is hard to recover from socially is played on her. Although the characters tend toward two-dimensionality, the swiftly paced, first-person narrative keeps readers engaged, and the message that putting others down is wrong, no matter the reason, is valuable. Lily’s social awkwardness and lack of confidence will resonate with many tweens. Her growing ability to deal with whatever life throws at her is relatable and engaging. Most characters present White.
Shows readers that being kind is more important than belonging to the right clique. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-68027-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
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
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