History with a wink, though earnest at its base.
Two kids careen through time on a magic skateboard for quick encounters with American presidents at pivotal moments.
Corey at least tries to tone down the satire of 2020’s Presidential Conversations by replacing his original time-traveling protagonist Donald Trump with grade schoolers—GiGi, whose family comes from the West Indies, and her BFF, Georgie, who is of Egyptian and Lebanese descent—but the high spot of this romp through history is a Kennedy Center performance by Richard Nixon with backup singers Trump, Bill Clinton, and Andrew Johnson warbling, “Impeachment is not that bad / So many other things are much more sad / When the House votes to indict / But the Senate says no, it’s alright.” Otherwise, though, presidential character at its best is the theme as Georgie and GiGi use navigation apps to help George Washington cross the Delaware and then, among later stops, pass Lincoln a pen to draft the Gettysburg Address and chant “Yes, we can!” at Barack Obama’s first inauguration. The author closes by having his young witnesses deliver their takeaways to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on a White House class tour. Most of the presidential dialogue consists of quotes from speeches and so has a rhetorical cast. Still, aside from a common but incorrect claim that the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in every state, historical contexts and occasions are rendered with reasonable accuracy. The illustrator’s closing gallery of loudly decorated skateboards and semiabstract posters scattered elsewhere add color if not relevance to public domain portraits of the 14 presidents (plus one vice) who step onstage.
History with a wink, though earnest at its base. (afterword) (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73535-093-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Cinergistik
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
It’s great to see these kids “so enthusiastic about committing high treason.” (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-12)
Near the end of World War II, two kids join their parents in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
Max, 12, lives with his parents and his older sister in a Berlin that’s under constant air bombardment. During one such raid, a mortally wounded man stumbles into the white German family’s home and gasps out his last wish: “The Führer must die.” With this nighttime visitation, Max and Gerta discover their parents have been part of a resistance cell, and the siblings want in. They meet a colorful band of upper-class types who seem almost too whimsical to be serious. Despite her charming levity, Prussian aristocrat and cell leader Frau Becker is grimly aware of the stakes. She enlists Max and Gerta as couriers who sneak forged identification papers to Jews in hiding. Max and Gerta are merely (and realistically) cogs in the adults’ plans, but there’s plenty of room for their own heroism. They escape capture, rescue each other when they’re caught out during an air raid, and willingly put themselves repeatedly at risk to catch a spy. The fictional plotters—based on a mix of several real anti-Hitler resistance cells—are portrayed with a genuine humor, giving them the space to feel alive even in such a slim volume.
It’s great to see these kids “so enthusiastic about committing high treason.” (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-35902-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
A tween gets in over his head in this introspective and nostalgic story.
Thirteen-year-old Joey Goodman spends every August in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at his grandparents’ hotel.
It’s 1975, and the city is soon to become a gambling resort as old hotels are replaced with casinos. Joey’s passion is playing Skee-Ball at the boardwalk arcades. There, he attracts the attention of shady Artie Bishop, known as the king of Steel Pier, and becomes involved in Bishop’s unspecified criminal activities. Suave Artie engages Joey in conversation about the boy’s favorite book, The Once and Future King, and Joey begins to regard him almost as a new King Arthur. Artie offers him a job chaperoning his daughter, Melanie, when she comes to visit. After Joey finishes his unpaid waiter’s shift at the hotel restaurant each day, he lies to his family, meets Melanie, and they explore the piers’ seedy amusements. Joey falls for 15-year-old Melanie, and she regards him fondly but is attracted to his older brother Reuben. The close-knit Jewish family of four bickering brothers, parents, uncle, and grandparents (especially wise grandpa Zeyde) is lovingly portrayed. The descriptions of Joey’s ponderings about God (he’s had his bar mitzvah but is undecided) and Artie’s business dealings may not hold young readers’ interest, and the immersive setting could appeal more to adults old enough to remember the time and place. All characters are presumed White.
A tween gets in over his head in this introspective and nostalgic story. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72843-034-8
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
