Heartbreaking, riveting, beautifully written.
A sixth grader struggles with leaving the life he knows under Cuba’s oppressive communist regime.
In 1980, the Cuban government opened the port of Mariel, permitting those who could obtain visas and arrange for boat passage to emigrate. When Héctor was 5, his father was jailed for speaking out about the lack of freedom in Cuba; recently he was sent to the U.S. as part of a political exchange. But when his mother floats the possibility of reuniting with his father in Miami, Héctor doesn’t want to go. Despite the toll of living with constant fear and the uncomfortable need to keep up public appearance of support for Fidel Castro’s repressive policies, Héctor is ambivalent about leaving. He’s a math whiz on track to represent Cuba at the International Math Olympiad and wants to remain close to his friends and Abuela—whose status as a delegate to Cuba’s National Assembly enables her to confer privileges on Héctor’s family, from Swiss chocolate to supplies beyond the meager government rations afforded everyone else. But everything changes when a betrayal leads to an act of repudiation in which a mob of neighbors go to Héctor’s house to accuse the family of being gusanos, or traitors. Following a tragedy, nothing is left for Héctor and his family but to painfully wait for their exit visas. What comes next is a suspenseful, emotional quest for freedom, fraught with danger and deception, that will keep pages turning.
Heartbreaking, riveting, beautifully written. (Historical fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37279-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Problem-solving through perseverance and friendship is the real win in this deeply smart and inspiring story.
Leaving Brooklyn behind, Black math-whiz and puzzle lover Bree starts a new life in Florida, where she’ll be tossed into the deep end in more ways than one. Keeping her head above water may be the trickiest puzzle yet.
While her dad is busy working and training in IT, Bree struggles at first to settle into Enith Brigitha Middle School, largely due to the school’s preoccupation with swimming—from the accomplishments of its namesake, a Black Olympian from Curaçao, to its near victory at the state swimming championships. But Bree can’t swim. To illustrate her anxiety around this fact, the graphic novel’s bright colors give way to gray thought bubbles with thick, darkened outlines expressing Bree’s deepest fears and doubts. This poignant visual crowds some panels just as anxious feelings can crowd the thoughts of otherwise star students like Bree. Ultimately, learning to swim turns out to be easy enough with the help of a kind older neighbor—a Black woman with a competitive swimming past of her own as well as a rich and bittersweet understanding of Black Americans’ relationship with swimming—who explains to Bree how racist obstacles of the past can become collective anxiety in the present. To her surprise, Bree, with her newfound water skills, eventually finds herself on the school’s swim team, navigating competition, her anxiety, and new, meaningful relationships.
Problem-solving through perseverance and friendship is the real win in this deeply smart and inspiring story. (Graphic fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-305677-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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