Readers will root for the protagonist as hard as he roots for his Yankees.
Marty tries to overcome his fears by withdrawing into his love for the Yankees, listening to the games, quoting statistics, and writing memos, never sent, to his hero, Mickey Mantle.
And there is much to fear in 1953 during the months leading up to the imminent execution of accused spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Marty’s professor parents have refused to sign loyalty oaths and are suspected of being Communists planning to overthrow the government. The FBI watches day and night, their mail and trash are searched, and their home is bugged. His friend Amy Lynn is in the same situation. Could they lose their parents like the Rosenberg children? Friends turn away, Marty is thrown off his baseball team, his friend Connor’s father forces them apart, and his mom and Amy Lynn’s dad are suspended and later fired from their positions. The FBI threatens his mom with deportation, claiming she isn’t a citizen. She is able to provide evidence to the contrary and is dismissed from the hearings, but the Rosenbergs can’t be saved. Speaking through Marty’s parents, Ruby demonstrates the escalating terrors endured by people caught up in the destructive McCarthy era, stopping just short of a dispiriting harangue. Marty is thoroughly endearing; he is resourceful, knows his weaknesses, endearingly dislikes studying for his bar mitzvah, and is a kind, caring friend. He narrates his own story, careening among fear, anger, bewilderment, and hope.
Readers will root for the protagonist as hard as he roots for his Yankees. (author’s note, acknowledgements, topics for discussion) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5415-5749-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
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 TO SCREEN
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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