Beautifully renders the slow-motion alchemy of growing up; mesmerizing and memorable.
It’s a life-changing year for a sixth grader on the threshold of puberty in 1970s Chicago.
The only child of affluent Jewish parents, Matasha, 11, is a budding novelist. She’s also tiny. Although her precocity and slight stature have targeted her for bullying at her private school, she fears and resists the daily growth-hormone injections her doctor proposes. She clings to Jean, her only friend, but their fraying friendship breaks after Matasha, whose imagination has fixated on a missing boy from their neighborhood, pressures her into searching for his body. When Jean turns on her, Matasha’s loneliness deepens; bullying induces self-lacerating shame, but she survives. In the grim-faced photo of the Vietnamese girl her mother wants to adopt, Matasha fears a potential bully, then feels guilty when her attorney father dismisses the project. It’s a cold household: her father rarely home; her mother self-absorbed; their Polish housekeeper kind but distant. Although family dysfunction leads Matasha to a shocking discovery, her parents’ emotional disengagement has a freeing upside: It begets agency, if she has the courage to choose it and keep writing. Lauded author Erens’ middle-grade debut unfolds at a steady, measured pace, a successful stylistic departure from prevailing trends toward dialogue-heavy, present-tense narration. Matasha’s journey captures in rich, pellucid detail the experiments, missteps, humiliations, and hard-won victories that will form her adult self.
Beautifully renders the slow-motion alchemy of growing up; mesmerizing and memorable. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63246-125-4
Page Count: 296
Publisher: IgKids
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick.
An elderly witch, a magical girl, a brave carpenter, a wise monster, a tiny dragon, paper birds, and a madwoman converge to thwart a magician who feeds on sorrow.
Every year Elders of the Protectorate leave a baby in the forest, warning everyone an evil Witch demands this sacrifice. In reality, every year, a kind witch named Xan rescues the babies and find families for them. One year Xan saves a baby girl with a crescent birthmark who accidentally feeds on moonlight and becomes “enmagicked.” Magic babies can be tricky, so Xan adopts little Luna herself and lovingly raises her, with help from an ancient swamp monster and a chatty, wee dragon. Luna’s magical powers emerge as her 13th birthday approaches. Meanwhile, Luna’s deranged real mother enters the forest to find her daughter. Simultaneously, a young carpenter from the Protectorate enters the forest to kill the Witch and end the sacrifices. Xan also enters the forest to rescue the next sacrificed child, and Luna, the monster, and the dragon enter the forest to protect Xan. In the dramatic denouement, a volcano erupts, the real villain attempts to destroy all, and love prevails. Replete with traditional motifs, this nontraditional fairy tale boasts sinister and endearing characters, magical elements, strong storytelling, and unleashed forces. Luna has black eyes, curly, black hair, and “amber” skin.
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61620-567-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
