A handsome, well-designed offering for middle readers and families.
Through beautiful, lucid free verse, Nikki Grimes explores some of the ambiguous, enigmatic events and circumstances leading up to the central theme behind the annual Easter observance.
Twenty-two poems introduced by a brief explanatory paragraph portray the story through the imagined eyes of the principals involved. Details of the Last Supper, Pilate’s wife’s role, the religious council tribunal, Mary’s grief, the darkening of the sky at the time of the crucifixion and the site of the ascension are all included. Questions raised in each piece encourage discussion of multiple interpretations, as in the poem titled “What’s in a Name?,” which refers to Judas’s role as one of betrayer and the subsequent altered implication to his name. Poetry is gentle yet thoughtful, alluding to the brutality of the execution while providing an almost prayer-like personal reflection. Multi-colored woodcuts suggest the emotion and mood of each scene in a parody of stained glass.
A handsome, well-designed offering for middle readers and families. (Poetry. 10+)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-8028-5183-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2005
A powerful and thoroughly satisfying blend of sports, history, family saga, and self-discovery.
A Black tween’s world revolves around her love of baseball and her grandfather’s stories of his African homeland.
Charlene Cuffey loves baseball; she was captivated after seeing a Negro Leagues game. Despite her mother’s disapproval, Charley dreams of becoming the first girl to be a professional pitcher. She also loves her grandfather Nana Kofi’s stories and his attempts to teach her his mother tongue of Twi. Nana Kofi was captured from his community and brought to America as a boy; later he fought in the war to end slavery. When Charley responds to a bully’s taunts by challenging him to a game, she’s determined to win. Unfortunately, she makes decisions that place her and her community in danger. This highly anticipated second volume in The Door of No Return trilogy reintroduces Kofi to readers as an elder, revealing how he survived, gained his freedom, established a family, and passed on his legacy of resilience to Charley. Alexander skillfully builds on the strengths of the first installment in portraying a strong sense of community and family, often in the face of capricious violence. Charley is a well-crafted character who embodies her tightknit family, her heritage, and her keen mind. The presence of real-life historical figures and events helps capture the tenor of life in segregated Virginia, while the beautifully flowing poetry contributes to the book’s engaging qualities.
A powerful and thoroughly satisfying blend of sports, history, family saga, and self-discovery. (author’s note) (Verse historical fiction. 10-18)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780316442596
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
An intimate novel that beautifully confronts grief and loss.
It’s 1983, and 13-year-old Indian American Reha feels caught between two worlds.
Monday through Friday, she goes to a school where she stands out for not being White but where she has a weekday best friend, Rachel, and does English projects with potential crush Pete. On the weekends, she’s with her other best friend, Sunita (Sunny for short), at gatherings hosted by her Indian community. Reha feels frustrated that her parents refuse to acknowledge her Americanness and insist on raising her with Indian values and habits. Then, on the night of the middle school dance, her mother is admitted to the hospital, and Reha’s world is split in two again: this time, between hospital and home. Suddenly she must learn not just how to be both Indian and American, but also how to live with her mother’s leukemia diagnosis. The sections dealing with Reha’s immigrant identity rely on oft-told themes about the overprotectiveness of immigrant parents and lack the nuance found in later pages. Reha’s story of her evolving relationships with her parents, however, feels layered and real, and the scenes in which Reha must grapple with the possible loss of a parent are beautifully and sensitively rendered. The sophistication of the text makes it a valuable and thought-provoking read even for those older than the protagonist.
An intimate novel that beautifully confronts grief and loss. (Verse novel. 11-15)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-304742-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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