An uneven treatment of a critical and timely subject.
Pennsylvania middle schooler Bess Stein is the new sixth grade class president, and she has a lot of plans.
Bess is working with the school librarian, Mr. Jasper, and the class vice president, June Myer, a recent transplant from Texas, to choose titles for the new book vending machine, one of her campaign promises. Bess, who’s Jewish, hopes to include volumes about the Holocaust; her great-grandmother was a survivor. Everything starts off well, until June’s mother becomes aware of the titles on offer and objects to the inclusion of those she considers “inappropriate, indecent, and offensive” and ones that are “divisive”—in other words, books representing diverse perspectives and identities. Bess, who’s supported by her family and the Book Warriors, a group of local librarians and educators, challenges the conservative Mrs. Myer and those who sympathize with her cause. Many other topics vie for space and aren’t fully developed, including explorations of friendship drama, antisemitism, hints of romance between Bess and June’s brother, Bess’ younger brother’s anxiety, and the Steins’ family dog. Bess is strong-willed, capable, and idealistic, but she isn’t always understanding of others’ weaknesses (for example, June’s struggles with her mother’s attitudes). June, for her part, never fully comes alive as a character. Swartz handles important topics in a convincing manner, but the empathetic storytelling unfortunately contains repetitious elements. Main characters are cued white.
An uneven treatment of a critical and timely subject. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780593705605
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato.
The new kid in school endures becoming the school mascot.
Ben Hardy has never cared for potatoes, and this distaste has become a barrier to adjusting to life in his new Idaho town. His school’s mascot is the Spud, and after a series of misfortunes, Ben is enlisted to don the potato costume and cheer on his school’s team. Ben balances his duties as a life-sized potato against his desperate desire to hide the fact that he’s the dork in the suit. After all, his cute new crush, Jayla, wouldn’t be too impressed to discover Ben’s secret. The ensuing novel is a fairly boilerplate middle–grade narrative: snarky tween protagonist, the crush that isn’t quite what she seems, and a pair of best friends that have more going on than our hero initially believes. The author keeps the novel moving quickly, pushing forward with witty asides and narrative momentum so fast that readers won’t really mind that the plot’s spine is one they’ve encountered many times before. Once finished, readers will feel little resonance and move on to the next book in their to-read piles, but in the moment the novel is pleasant enough. Ben, Jayla, and Ben’s friend Hunter are white while Ellie, Ben’s other good pal, is Latina.
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11866-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Wholesome shading to bland, but well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast headed by a child...
A San Diego preteen learns that she’s an elf, with a place in magic school if she moves to the elves’ hidden realm.
Having felt like an outsider since a knock on the head at age 5 left her able to read minds, Sophie is thrilled when hunky teen stranger Fitz convinces her that she’s not human at all and transports her to the land of Lumenaria, where the ageless elves live. Taken in by a loving couple who run a sanctuary for extinct and mythical animals, Sophie quickly gathers friends and rivals at Foxfire, a distinctly Hogwarts-style school. She also uncovers both clues to her mysterious origins and hints that a rash of strangely hard-to-quench wildfires back on Earth are signs of some dark scheme at work. Though Messenger introduces several characters with inner conflicts and ambiguous agendas, Sophie herself is more simply drawn as a smart, radiant newcomer who unwillingly becomes the center of attention while developing what turn out to be uncommonly powerful magical abilities—reminiscent of the younger Harry Potter, though lacking that streak of mischievousness that rescues Harry from seeming a little too perfect. The author puts her through a kidnapping and several close brushes with death before leaving her poised, amid hints of a higher destiny and still-anonymous enemies, for sequels.
Wholesome shading to bland, but well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast headed by a child who, while overly fond of screaming, rises to every challenge. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4593-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
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