Mostly successful and entertaining.
A popular girl risks exposing her hidden geek side to win a contest.
Sarah Anne only pretended to have “outgrown” MK Nightshade’s fantasy novels back in sixth grade in order to join her best friend, Roxy, in the popular clique of athletes, and she lives by strict rules to keep her geekery secret. But acing an online trivia game lands her a spot on a con panel (where she experiences sadly realistic misogyny) and eligibility for a new contest in which the person with the most points wins a trip to a special screening of the fandom’s latest movie. The challenges leave her dodging her friends and increasingly risking blowing her cool girl cover—and getting dropped by her best friend. In a dance subplot, the cutest, most popular boy in their grade wants her to be his date (and her friends pressure her as well), but Sarah Anne thinks he’s mean. The amusing obstacles Sarah Anne faces in the contest are counterbalanced by the nuanced social dynamics as the story builds to the inevitable turning point in which she needs to figure out her true self. Unfortunately, the plot goes a little off the rails in its climax, becoming harder to believe than Sarah Anne’s beloved characters Sir Oakheart and Lady Althena. Sarah Anne presents white, while Roxy and Sarah Anne’s would-be date are students of color; diversity is otherwise indicated through naming convention.
Mostly successful and entertaining. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: May 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31458-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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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Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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