A heartfelt, multifaceted treasure hunt.
On a road trip from Knoxville to their former home in San Diego, 13-year-old shutterbug Olivia follows a secret plan to help her depressed 16-year-old sister, Ruth.
From the start, Olivia is an earnest narrator who effortlessly moves back and forth between the plotline and revealing and processing her emotions. She gives blow-by-blow descriptions that begin with packing for the upcoming RV trip with Eddie, her mom’s cousin, and his wife, Ellie, and ends at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park. There, three years ago, the sisters buried a treasure box of memories captured in photographs by Olivia and song playlists by Ruth. Early on, readers learn that the girls’ professional parents will be flying to join their daughters at journey’s end for a family scuba-diving excursion. Accomplished photographer Olivia has an underwater camera while Ruth is devoted to her old-school iPod. The narration skillfully weaves into the story Olivia’s passion for photography, conversations and confrontations running a gamut of emotions, facts about depression, vivid descriptions of each tourist attraction they visit, and pop songs that complement the story (even connecting with the book’s title). Ellie and Eddie are highly supportive, encouraging both sisters in their personal and artistic growth. Olivia’s hypersensitivity may grate at times, but this is an honest portrayal of a child gradually internalizing what she knows intellectually about her fragile sister. Tween readers—especially girls with older sisters—will appreciate the depth of feeling on display.
A heartfelt, multifaceted treasure hunt. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: March 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-31325-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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