Layla Elliott and Griffin Silk are best friends, and she’s become a virtual Silk family member. So rather than ask her busy, distracted mom, who never quite hears her, Layla turns to the Silks for help finding an elderly person she can bring to school for Senior Citizens Day. Griffin offers to share his grandma, Nell, since Layla’s own beloved nana died recently. But Nell sees that Layla longs for someone of her own. When their list of Likely Candidates doesn’t pan out, Nell introduces Layla to Miss Amelie. This charming elderly lady remembers some things vividly—such as the mysterious John William she waits for—but forgets who Layla is between visits. Can—should—Layla bring her to school? The theme running through Millard’s Silk family chronicles is the transformative power of empathy. Emotional balm, the source of inspiration and ideas that nourish and enrich the soul, empathy works its magic on everyone, from Miss Amelie to Layla’s impatient mom. Barton’s illustrations gently convey the bonds of affection among the author’s eccentric, engaging characters. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-374-34360-6
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Using the multiple voices that made Bull Run (1995) so absorbing, Fleischman takes readers to a modern inner-city neighborhood and a different sort of battle, as bit by bit the handful of lima beans an immigrant child plants in an empty lot blossoms into a community garden, tended by a notably diverse group of local residents. It's not an easy victory: Toughened by the experience of putting her children through public school, Leona spends several days relentlessly bulling her way into government offices to get the lot's trash hauled away; others address the lack of readily available water, as well as problems with vandals and midnight dumpers; and though decades of waging peace on a small scale have made Sam an expert diplomat, he's unable to prevent racial and ethnic borders from forming. Still, the garden becomes a place where wounds heal, friendships form, and seeds of change are sown. Readers won't gain any great appreciation for the art and science of gardening from this, but they may come away understanding that people can work side by side despite vastly different motives, attitudes, skills, and cultural backgrounds. It's a worthy idea, accompanied by Pedersen's chapter-heading black-and-white portraits, providing advance information about the participants' races and, here and there, ages. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 11, 1997
ISBN: 0-06-027471-9
Page Count: 69
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1997
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