A lovely and intelligent family tale that emphasizes acceptance and care.
A teenager spends an unforgettable season in Minneapolis in this middle-grade sequel.
Thirteen-year-old Jeremiah is looking forward to another summer with his father—though this year will be different in many ways. First, beloved neighbor Mr. Keeler has died, and Jeremiah vows to care for the older man’s garden and make it even better. Second, Jeremiah’s father, who is bisexual, will be marrying his boyfriend, Michael, who is obsessing over Pinterest-esque homemade decorations in “teal and chocolate” (as opposed to green and brown). Finally, and most unexpectedly, the teen’s best friend, Sage—who has queer parents—has seemingly replaced Jeremiah with Asha, the new girl in town. Soon, Jeremiah grows tired of tagging along with the two girls and looks elsewhere for fulfillment: helping his dad and Michael prepare for the wedding, volunteering in English classes for refugees with one of Sage’s moms, and forming a new friendship with Asha’s twin brother, Asad, along with his annual fishing ritual with his father and riding his brand new bicycle. As the summer progresses, Jeremiah finds himself learning new things almost daily—but will his friendship with Sage ever be like it once was? Queer author Klas, who lives in the Twin Cities, deftly highlights the area’s diversity, including its LGBTQ+, Hmong, Somali, and refugee populations, through the eyes of Jeremiah, a thoughtful and open-minded teen. The protagonist enjoys gardening as much as bike riding and wears his ALLY baseball cap at Pride. Jeremiah’s reactions and feelings are realistic for his age—he doesn’t always say or do the right thing—but he is quick to learn and adapt to his surroundings and situations. Bisexuality is still underrepresented in pop culture, and a scene between Jeremiah and his dad addressing this topic is particularly poignant. In many ways, this tale, with distinct black-and-white illustrations by Arroyo, is a typical coming-of-age story. Yet readers will find themselves learning alongside Jeremiah, who tries spiced lamb at a food market and dissects the White savior complex in a kid-friendly way.
A lovely and intelligent family tale that emphasizes acceptance and care.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-947159-65-5
Page Count: 282
Publisher: One Elm Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Fiercely feisty and unapologetically goofy.
Three young girls are tasked with saving their town from a vicious worm.
This romp from actor McKinnon introduces the three Porch girls: Gertrude, age 12 and three-quarters, Eugenia, age 12 and one-eighth, and Dee-Dee, age 11. Cared for by Aunt Desdemona and Uncle Ansel (along with their seven cousins, who are all named Lavinia), they’re forced to live in a ramshackle shed at the edge of the property. In a classic turn of events, the sisters are invited to a new school run by a certain Millicent Quibb. Under Quibb’s eccentric tutelage, the trio learn that the nefarious Krenetics Research Association, hoping to release their founder, Talon Sharktūth, from his vault, has bred a Kyrgalops, a vicious stone- and puppy-chomping worm, which may destroy their entire town. McKinnon’s middle-grade debut is grandiosely silly, reminiscent of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events in both its sesquipedalian language and tone and in relying heavily on its bespoke lexicon, verbal gymnastics, and cheeky footnotes to deliver jokes. Interspersed throughout are bits of visual interest—poems and songs, schematics, and bits of correspondence. Though the action rockets along at a Pixy Stix–fueled pace, many questions are left unanswered or unaddressed, making this series opener exposition heavy and a bit frustrating. Still, readers will ultimately be left hopeful that subsequent volumes will offer something meatier. The illustrations cue some diversity of skin tone among the characters.
Fiercely feisty and unapologetically goofy. (map, afterword, appendices) (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780316554732
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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