A boy bravely promotes decency in this heartfelt, message-driven tale for young readers.
A fifth-grader becomes a bully’s tool but then learns to stand up for himself and others.
In this contemporary, middle-grade novel, Dillon (Okay Kevin, 2017, etc.) introduces a protagonist who is first swept up into an alliance with the class bully, then devises a strategy for disentangling himself and defending his fellow students. James is a classic good student, always obeying his teacher and earning plenty of “PAWS tickets,” the school’s method of reinforcing positive discipline: “When all the kids had trouble settling down, Miss Johnson would notice me and say, ‘I like the way James is sitting,’ and slowly but surely the other kids would start to follow what I was doing.” But he also wants to be liked by the popular kids and sees his chance to help Richie, a skilled mimic of students and teachers, by pointing out traits for the boy to imitate. Richie, a smooth manipulator, wants to win the Premier Student of the Year Award and schemes to use James’ observations as a way to make it happen. James gradually realizes that Richie is using him but finds getting out of the student’s intrigue difficult. Eventually, James learns about resistance and leadership skills through a school project on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and he leads his classmates in their own form of nonviolent resistance. Although the school librarian sends James to primary sources to deepen his knowledge of King’s philosophy, the book does not address the substantial difference between the legal and institutional racism the civil rights leader combatted and the social discomfort James deals with. (The characters’ races are not identified.) James’ relationship with his first-grade neighbor Mikey, on the other hand, is expertly portrayed, providing a more solid basis for the lessons learned. The book remains earnest in the presentation of its anti-bullying theme.
A boy bravely promotes decency in this heartfelt, message-driven tale for young readers.Pub Date: June 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5468-9548-0
Page Count: 142
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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