An admirable heroine navigates a difficult path to fame and fortune in a tale that will appeal to those looking for a lavish...
Dominican-American Esperanza Flores is not a typical world-class U.S. figure skater, but she’s going to provide Olympics-eager girls the perfect opportunity to channel their ambitions.
After unexpectedly winning a silver medal at Nationals, Espi is selected for the Olympic team, along with spiteful Stacie and Meredith, Stacie’s reluctant sidekick and sometime victim. Espi encounters handsome (but conniving) male champion Hunter, who tries to begin a relationship with her, a tempting opportunity even though hockey phenom Danny presents as a better choice. Although Espi’s route to top-level skating seems improbable—self-taught until she was 10, then coached gratis by champion Lucy Chen at her private rink—other parts of her ice odyssey, including her quest to land a quad, pack in enough realistic detail to satisfy dedicated skating aficionados. Drama among skaters continues to increase, creating ample tension both on and off the ice after they arrive at the games. Unfortunately, Freitas lets the relationships edge out the skating, and Espi’s critical final appearance on the ice gets short shrift. In the face of multiple challenges, Espi remains sensibly and believably grounded, although many other skaters are portrayed far less kindly.
An admirable heroine navigates a difficult path to fame and fortune in a tale that will appeal to those looking for a lavish serving of romance along with an interesting backstage glimpse of the international skating world. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-64377-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Brava!
From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage.
Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We’re the cool kids….He's the dork." With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer.
Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-32698-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
SEEN & HEARD
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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