An entertaining tale of angst, good dogs, and satisfying achievement.
Ariel, smart but a bit plain, is her mother’s constant disappointment.
She can’t begin to reach the bar set by her gorgeous, blonde older sister, Gloria. Their mother has big Hollywood plans for Gloria, and Ariel is, sadly, just in the way. So when she discovers a lost and frantic German shepherd she calls Duke and meets Staff Sgt. Josephina Martínez, a former K-9 handler who’s retired to a lonely cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains to recover from her PTSD, they become more than just solace to the frustrated eighth grader. Ariel finally has a supportive adult in her life, and she has a mission: to help Duke overcome his fears. Since Gloria has been selected to be one of the princesses of the huge annual parade, Ariel decides to train Duke to dance among the marchers, at first hoping to upstage Gloria but later because she’s determined to have pride in her own and Duke’s abilities. Then she acquires six other dogs from the local animal shelter—not quite stolen, but nearly so. All of this combines to create a triumphant parade performance but also a major public confrontation with her nasty mother and sister. Ariel’s narration initially feels more authorial than young teen, but later in the tale she hits a more believable stride. With the exception of Ariel, characters seem rather predictable. Ariel and her family are white; Sgt. Josie is Puerto Rican.
An entertaining tale of angst, good dogs, and satisfying achievement. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-243000-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
