A heartbreaking, uplifting ode to staying true to family even in the worst of times.
What wouldn’t a desperate man do to help his children? What wouldn’t desperate kids do to save their dad and themselves?
White siblings Jack, 12, and Pippa, 10, are drowning in grief after their adored mother’s recent death. They reveal themselves in alternating first-person, present-tense chapters filled with keenly self-aware yet realistic-sounding observations not entirely devoid of humor. Jack’s crushing pain often manifests itself in angry confusion and isolation; Pippa covers her despair with elective mutism. As if bereavement weren’t awful enough, they soon learn that their financially strapped father has lost his business; there’s no money for necessities and the mortgage on their lakefront house. Then comes another tremendous blow. Out of funds, credit, and options, Dad robs a bank while Jack waits, horrified, outside. In time Pippa pieces clues together and realizes what happened. In empowering Jack to prevent their father from committing another crime she discovers the strength finally to speak out; appalled and contrite, Dad surrenders and is imprisoned. This well-written novel isn’t unremittingly cheerless. A sense of hope springs from two other well-realized characters—a white, teenage, new neighbor who’s Jack’s crush; and a kindly, white family friend and confidante. Each in her own way helps the children slowly emerge from darkness and allow their inner resilience to blossom. The novel’s ending is most satisfying and touching.
A heartbreaking, uplifting ode to staying true to family even in the worst of times. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: June 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-04296-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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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