Hiking the Appalachian Trail forms the groundwork for this emotionally taut story about Dani, 12, who is trying to escape from the misery of the traumatic death of her 13-year-old brother from muscular dystrophy, her parents’ divorce, and her father’s remarriage and pregnant new wife. The Trail is more than symbolic to the family, as her parents met while hiking it and named both children for sites: Katahdin, a mountain in Maine, is Dani’s real name, and Springer, a mountain in Georgia, was her brother’s. The journal format effectively conveys the immediacy of the daily challenges as Dani’s entries list location, miles walked, and weather. For six months, she trained to thru-walk the entire 2,163 miles from Georgia to Maine, but on day three, her mother catches up with her. Since she hadn’t told either parent where she was going, both are furious upon figuring out where she is. Mother and resentful daughter make concessions and set off to hike together for several weeks. The more miles they cover, the more painful memories are confessed as the reader learns about the impact of Springer’s death. Though arrangements are conveniently worked out for Dani’s mother to leave work to hike, the strength of the story is in the depiction of Springer—how he tied the family together, and how his death split them apart. The realistic ending is one of renewal and moving on. Teenagers will readily relate to the angst and anger and be intrigued by the details about the Trail itself. (Fiction. 10-15)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-72960-X
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2002
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
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high...
Two parallel stories, one of a Syrian boy from Aleppo fleeing war, and another of a white American boy, son of a NATO contractor, dealing with the challenges of growing up, intersect at a house in Brussels.
Ahmed lost his father while crossing the Mediterranean. Alone and broke in Europe, he takes things into his own hands to get to safety but ends up having to hide in the basement of a residential house. After months of hiding, he is discovered by Max, a boy of similar age and parallel high integrity and courage, who is experiencing his own set of troubles learning a new language, moving to a new country, and being teased at school. In an unexpected turn of events, the two boys and their new friends Farah, a Muslim Belgian girl, and Oscar, a white Belgian boy, successfully scheme for Ahmed to go to school while he remains in hiding the rest of the time. What is at stake for Ahmed is immense, and so is the risk to everyone involved. Marsh invites art and history to motivate her protagonists, drawing parallels to gentiles who protected Jews fleeing Nazi terror and citing present-day political news. This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace.
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high values in the face of grave risk and succeed in drawing goodwill from others. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-30757-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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