Informative and stirring.
In this adaptation of a memoir for adults, Arceneaux recounts becoming the first pediatric cancer survivor and person with a prosthetic body part to enter space.
At age 10, Arceneaux was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. She and her parents traveled from Louisiana to Memphis, Tennessee, so that she could be treated at renowned children’s hospital St. Jude. Treatment included chemotherapy and ultimately a prosthetic bone implant in her leg. Arceneaux candidly details nausea from chemo, painful physical therapy, and grief at losing her hair. Arceneaux’s descriptions of setbacks and surgeries, bullying, adults who treated her with kid gloves, and her growing acceptance of her scars will resonate with readers, especially those who have faced similar situations. Fortunately, St. Jude’s supportive staff and the friendship of fellow cancer patients bolstered her; she resolved to someday help kids with cancer herself. Fulfilling her resolution, Arceneaux studied to be a physician assistant and, at age 28, landed a job at St. Jude. Soon after, she was chosen to participate in Inspiration4: a mission sending four civilians into space to raise $200 million for St. Jude. Her accounts of astronaut training, including spinning in a centrifuge and climbing Mount Rainier, are eye-opening. Her time in space is alternately joyful and sobering as she twirls in the spacecraft sans gravity, contemplates Earth’s beauty, and honors friends and family who died of cancer, including her father. Though the pacing occasionally feels uneven, the conversational narration makes this an accessible, engaging read.
Informative and stirring. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9780593443880
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Convergent
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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