Engrossing and deeply relatable.
Shaindy and Gayil are neighbors and classmates, but they have never been friends.
It’s the beginning of sixth grade, and Shaindy and Gayil attend an Orthodox Jewish girls’ school that prizes both education and kindness. Awkward, chubby Shaindy feels invisible, while smart, popular Gayil is considered the perfect student. Their community is celebrating the High Holidays, with their particular emphasis on repentance (teshuva) and atonement. Ironically, Gayil chooses to begin a series of “harmless” pranks at this time, and she enlists Shaindy as her partner-in-crime. Shaindy craves a friend so much that she eagerly participates, but Gayil’s schemes soon escalate from putting slime on a good friend’s hairbrush to unleashing bees in the classroom (despite the potential danger to an allergic student) to faking another girl’s handwriting to get her in trouble with the teacher. Shaindy’s conscience starts to bother her until it finally all comes to a head and Gayil reveals the secret behind her unusual behavior. This is a nuanced exploration of the intricacies of friendship, and the fully realized setting, a close-knit development for Orthodox Jews, offers a very specific picture of Shaindy’s home and school life. Transliterated Hebrew words will be familiar to some (there is no glossary), but the universal themes of desiring friendship and popularity will resonate with many. Characters are cued as Jewish and white.
Engrossing and deeply relatable. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781646142644
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Glitzy glimpses of life on the make, lightened by a focus on alternatives rather than consequences.
A con man’s son yearns for a different way of life.
Having helped his single dad fleece wealthy marks since kindergarten, Trey is adept at spotting their rich offspring in each new school he attends and cultivating them until the time comes for a quick getaway. Now that he’s 12, though, the urge to make real friends and put down some roots has become insistent—particularly since he’s drawn to Kaylee, a new classmate in his latest middle school. How can he convince his dad, who’s in the midst of luring local investors into a fantastically lucrative scheme involving a fictive electric car, that it’s time to bag the family profession and settle down? Korman goes more for ironic humor than the physical or stand-up sort in this book, as shown by Trey’s enrollment in an ethics class that forces him into some decidedly hypocritical stances. Much like Trey himself, instant new bestie Logan and his parents turn out to be not at all who they seem. And though there are no bullies or real baddies in the cast on the way to the story’s rosy but implausible resolution, Trey’s malign, high-strung, and wildly reckless huckster of a little sister from hell definitely adds both conflict and suspense to this provocative outing. Main characters read white.
Glitzy glimpses of life on the make, lightened by a focus on alternatives rather than consequences. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781338826753
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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