Though there are a few treats to be found here, readers of prior editions will be sad to discover it’s not chock-full.
In this fifth annual volume of the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, young people are spread throughout a futuristic universe filled with robots and piloting spaceships of their own.
The everyday childhood challenges that they face are nothing new, just tweaked to a distant future. In “The Ground Shifted,” by anne gibson, orphan Rosetta travels in a support hoverpod instead of a wheelchair, as she struggles with vertigo, while dismembered survivors of an asteroid crash in Sherry D. Ramsey’s “Machine Language” are left to colonize an unknown planet, their limbs replaced with multicolored prosthetics, painting a picture of a kind of transhuman existence. In “The Last Laugh,” William B. Wolfe offers a bit of humor with the speculative tale in which schoolkids challenge the Authorities in a world where jokes are illegal. Unlike last year’s Guide, this anthology’s stories feature mostly white-default characters. In stories where children of color are prominent, they are stereotyped, as in Holly Schofield’s “Woomie Saves the Day,” in which protagonist Kayla Ng’s mother advises her to “get zen” and Kayla’s skill with chopsticks is remarked on; Though Aubrey Campbell’s “The Last Flower on Earth” is an endearing story of a friendship between a lost Japanese girl, Misaki, and a lone robot, cultural details are largely limited to nomenclature (Shenyin Moon) and food (mochi).
Though there are a few treats to be found here, readers of prior editions will be sad to discover it’s not chock-full. (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-940924-42-7
Page Count: 394
Publisher: Dreaming Robot
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The inevitable go-to for Percy’s legions of fans who want the stories behind his stories.
Percy Jackson takes a break from adventuring to serve up the Greek gods like flapjacks at a church breakfast.
Percy is on form as he debriefs readers concerning Chaos, Gaea, Ouranos and Pontus, Dionysus, Ariadne and Persephone, all in his dude’s patter: “He’d forgotten how beautiful Gaea could be when she wasn’t all yelling up in his face.” Here they are, all 12 Olympians, plus many various offspring and associates: the gold standard of dysfunctional families, whom Percy plays like a lute, sometimes lyrically, sometimes with a more sardonic air. Percy’s gift, which is no great secret, is to breathe new life into the gods. Closest attention is paid to the Olympians, but Riordan has a sure touch when it comes to fitting much into a small space—as does Rocco’s artwork, which smokes and writhes on the page as if hit by lightning—so readers will also meet Makaria, “goddess of blessed peaceful deaths,” and the Theban Teiresias, who accidentally sees Athena bathing. She blinds him but also gives him the ability to understand the language of birds. The atmosphere crackles and then dissolves, again and again: “He could even send the Furies after living people if they committed a truly horrific crime—like killing a family member, desecrating a temple, or singing Journey songs on karaoke night.”
The inevitable go-to for Percy’s legions of fans who want the stories behind his stories. (Mythology. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-8364-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Salva Dut is 11 years old when war raging in the Sudan separates him from his family. To avoid the conflict, he walks for years with other refugees, seeking sanctuary and scarce food and water. Park simply yet convincingly depicts the chaos of war and an unforgiving landscape as they expose Salva to cruelties both natural and man-made. The lessons Salva remembers from his family keep him from despair during harsh times in refugee camps and enable him, as a young man, to begin a new life in America. As Salva’s story unfolds, readers also learn about another Sudanese youth, Nya, and how these two stories connect contributes to the satisfying conclusion. This story is told as fiction, but it is based on real-life experiences of one of the “Lost Boys” of the Sudan. Salva and Nya’s compelling voices lift their narrative out of the “issue” of the Sudanese War, and only occasionally does the explanation of necessary context intrude in the storytelling. Salva’s heroism and the truth that water is a source of both conflict and reconciliation receive equal, crystal-clear emphasis in this heartfelt account. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-25127-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
SEEN & HEARD
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