A compelling coming-of-age story focused on cultural heritage, gender, and chosen family.
In a world devastated by a solar flare, siblings embark on a perilous journey across a scorched landscape.
Stepsisters Millie and Rose are alone, caring for their baby half brother, Sammy. They decide to join forces with a multiracial band of survivors calling themselves the Lost Boys—drama camp counselor Ben and his theater troupe—as they navigate the treacherous remnants of the Appalachian wilderness. The girls hope to reach South Carolina and Millie’s maternal grandma, a Seminole elder. Millie’s struggle to preserve her Seminole heritage amid the chaos contrasts sharply with Rose’s attempts to suppress her grief and memories of her late daddy, who was white. Rose grapples with memories tied to her daddy’s stories of the Sanctuary, a mysterious community of survivors he’d hoped to reach. As the journey progresses, Rose explores questions of gender identity. Their journey is fraught with danger, especially from the Hive, a sinister and exploitative corporate group. An encounter with the Hive becomes a matter of life or death for the Lost Boys and the siblings and leads to the shocking truth about the Sanctuary. The transformation from vulnerable children to resourceful young adults culminates in a dramatic confrontation with the Hive. Edgmon’s middle-grade debut skillfully blends action and emotion, offering a compelling look at what it means to pull away from climate defeatism.
A compelling coming-of-age story focused on cultural heritage, gender, and chosen family. (Post-apocalyptic. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781250873972
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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