Joseph Paul, named for the wondrous new rookie centerfielder of the 1936 New York Yankees, has big dreams and a long hard road to travel in order to achieve them. Papa-Angelo, his grandfather, teaches him baseball, honor, compassion, courage, perseverance, and so much more. His very existence is a special gift to the old man, for he gives him “dreams to go with his nightmares.” His father is in jail during much of his childhood, but in spite of the shame and the broken promises, these two love him. The son of poor Italian immigrants, Joe DiMaggio is a guiding star for both of them. In 1941, when most of the world is already engulfed in war, DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak postpones for a while the dread of what is to come. “Hits were the same as hope that summer, filling our hearts in the face of the truth that the president had been wrong: there really was something to fear after all.” Joseph matures during the war, watching his grandfather’s sadness intensify, and accepting that his father will never become a hero. At war’s end, DiMaggio returns from the army, hitting a homerun in his first game, bringing forth “a sigh of relief so pure and loud you would have thought the whole world had finally remembered how to breathe.” Joseph identifies with DiMaggio and everything he stands for in reality and in his imagination. He wants to become Joe DiMaggio, but he is reminded “that someone else already is.” So Joseph chooses his own path and becomes someone truly wonderful and unique. Testa tells the entire story in verse. Each poem is a perfect, gripping chapter in Joseph’s story. Words are carefully selected and images are beautifully crafted. Strong emotions are evoked, but there is no sentimental manipulation. When the author states in an endnote that Joseph was her father, it serves to validate the reader’s instant recognition of his humanity. A powerful, glowing, unforgettable achievement. (Poetry. 10-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7636-1537-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
Brava!
From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage.
Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We’re the cool kids….He's the dork." With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer.
Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-32698-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
SEEN & HEARD
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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