An interesting and somewhat enlightening look at a girl struggling but sometimes making bumpy progress in dealing with...
An eighth-grader’s Asperger’s syndrome complicates her navigation of an unpredictable—and often inexplicable—world.
Kicked out of school after cracking a popular (and rather deserving) girl on the head with her lunch tray during one of her many anger-driven meltdowns, Kiara’s searching for a real friend. When 12-year-old Chad and his little brother move in across the street, it seems like the perfect opportunity. Chad is deceitful, but Kiara quickly discovers it’s mostly because his parents are using him to buy large quantities of Sudafed, an ingredient for their meth lab. She also explores a developing connection with Antonio, a friend of her older brother and someone who seems to understand her focus on Rogue, one of the X-Men, whom she views as a comforting alter ego. Whether Antonio’s just being friendly or trying to exploit her innocence is never clear, but his attractiveness lands her and Chad at a high school drinking party. With her back-up–singer mother performing in Canada and her father not really understanding her, Kiara has few adult resources, and her frustration with the world rings true in her first-person narration. Her meltdowns, unfortunately, come off more as tantrums than manifestations of her syndrome, making her a less-attractive character than she deserves to be.
An interesting and somewhat enlightening look at a girl struggling but sometimes making bumpy progress in dealing with Asperger’s. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: May 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-16225-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
A painful story smartly told, Benjamin’s first solo novel has appeal well beyond a middle school audience.
In middle school, where “Worst Thing” can mean anything from a pimple to public humiliation, Suzy “Zu” Swanson really has a reason to be in crisis: her former best friend has died unexpectedly, and the seventh-grader is literally silenced by grief and confusion.
A chance encounter with a jellyfish display on a school trip gives her focus—for Zu, the venomous Irukandji jellyfish, while rare, provides a possible explanation for the “how” of Franny’s death. And Zu is desperate for answers and relief from her haunting grief and guilt. In seven parts neatly organized around the scientific method as presented by Mrs. Turton, a middle school teacher who really gets the fragility of her students, Zu examines and analyzes past and present. A painful story of friendship made and lost emerges: the inseparable early years, Franny’s pulling away, Zu’s increasing social isolation, and a final attempt by Zu to honor a childhood pact. The author gently paints Zu as a bit of an oddball; not knowing what hair product to use leaves her feeling “like a separate species altogether,” and knowing too many species of jellyfish earns her the nickname Medusa. Surrounded by the cruelty of adolescence, Zu is awkward, smart, methodical, and driven by sadness. She eventually follows her research far beyond the middle school norm, because “ ‘Sometimes things just happen’ is not an explanation. It is not remotely scientific.”
A painful story smartly told, Benjamin’s first solo novel has appeal well beyond a middle school audience. (Fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-38086-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An emotional story that beautifully encompasses many sensitive topics.
Two best friends must navigate changing relationships during their first year of high school.
Jack and Immie have been inseparable since they were 7. But as ninth grade begins, Jack becomes more focused on soccer, and Immie finds herself looking for answers about her biological father. She’s always believed he was just a sperm donor, but when her mom shares personalized CDs he made but won’t say more—“he deserves his privacy. This was the arrangement we agreed upon”—Immie realizes that isn’t entirely true. When Jack isn’t as supportive of her quest for answers as Immie has hoped, she feels the distance between them grow. At the same time, Elijah, a sophomore soccer player, steps into her life, and she’s left to navigate her growing feelings for both boys. While the supporting characters’ storylines feel more like vehicles for exploring the love triangle and various heavy social topics, the complex leads are well developed, particularly Jack, whose anxiety and panic attacks highlight the importance of mental health support for boys. Both Immie’s and Jack’s stories are fully explored: Part One is told through Immie’s first-person voice, Part Two through Jack’s, and Part Three follows both of them in the third person. Meiser examines real topics that affect many teens and tweens in a mindful and respectful way. Main characters are cued white.
An emotional story that beautifully encompasses many sensitive topics. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781665948227
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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