This third installment in the Snob Squad adventures lives up to its predecessors (Define Normal, 2000, etc.) by again blending humor with depth. Twelve-year-old Jenny struggles with her weight, which results in wry self-deprecation and the keeping of a food diary that evolves into a daily journal. Jenny is the sometime leader of the Snob Squad, a mix of four slightly outcast personalities. Tension is created in school by the obvious favoritism shown to Ashley Krupps, the principal’s daughter. When money is stolen from the sixth-grade teacher’s purse the Snob Squad sets out to prove it was Ashley’s crime. Meanwhile, at home, Jenny’s family struggles to forge a stronger family bond as they begin a weekly family night; her parents begin marriage counseling and her sister, Vanessa, battles anorexia. There are numerous red herrings as more money goes missing and no one, including Jenny’s boyfriend, seems innocent. As evidence piles up against each character, neither Jenny nor the reader knows whom to blame. Even Jenny is not above suspicion. It is, however, a surprise when the culprit is finally revealed. By the close, everyone has learned that perfection is unattainable, but forgiveness, trust, and loyalty are the foundation of friendship and family. Eminently readable, it’s a story strong in plot and memorable characters while offering some powerful insights on sustaining solid relationships. Jenny’s sharp wit enlivens the story throughout. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-316-70287-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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