Tests and triumphs for two middle schoolers, folded into a harsh indictment of those who would exploit them.
Game, set, match for two young athletes, on the court and beyond.
Having gone from Benchwarmers (2019) to Game Changers (2020), sixth grade jock buddies Jeff and Andrea finish off Feinstein’s trilogy by leading their school’s tennis squad through a series of hard-fought competitions. Tight and quick as the sports action is, though—and readers will need to be well up on tennis scoring and terminology to keep pace—it’s what goes on between matches that drives the plot. Though Andi has excelled at soccer and basketball, tennis is her best sport—and she’s so good that agents are sidling up to her with business cards and even contracts in hand. His dad being a sports journalist, Jeff sniffs a story…and so it is that the two enlist their parents and other allies to gather documents and testimonials with the aim of exposing the slimy, unethical practice of inveigling talented child athletes into turning pro. Adding in a toxic sports parent and even a teacher/coach who turns out to be working for an agency, the author lays out an alluring but sordid picture of big bucks, glittering promises, and slick legal tricks. Andi remains untempted as she and Jeff battle their way to a tense season finale capped by clear signs that their friendship is (at last) moving to a new phase. Most of the cast is presumed White.
Tests and triumphs for two middle schoolers, folded into a harsh indictment of those who would exploit them. (Sports fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-374-31207-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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