An often humorous and insightful story of teens becoming self-aware young adults.
A talented student athlete learns that there’s more to life than the swim team when an injury sidelines her in Marshall’s YA novel.
Reece Denning counted on getting an athletic scholarship to an Ivy League college (“There was no Plan B”), but a shoulder injury forces her to leave her elite sports academy and attend a new school while she recovers. There, her goofball (“Spontaneity, it’s the way to go”) but determined older brother, Jamie, runs for student council president and provides comic relief. After his VP selection is disqualified, Reece becomes his reluctant running mate. Due to a preposterous campaign promise of free ice cream, Jamie and Reece are victorious. However, to keep her brother’s college plans moving forward, Reece must play ant to his grasshopper and keep him on task. The counterpoint to Jamie’s fecklessness and Reece’s singled-minded focus is Zain, a student council member who coerces Jamie into writing a student-council constitution, and Reece ends up helping. She meets Zain, and they began a touch-and-go relationship that’s deeper than puppy love but complicated by the fact that an accident required the amputation of one of Zain’s legs, for which he wears a prosthetic; although he’s captain of the basketball team, he knows that he’ll never get an athletic scholarship, but he plans on pursuing a law career. He’s aware of the law’s limitations, however, noting the “crappy settlement” he received for his accident, which, for Reece, strikes close to home. Reece narrates Marshall’s energetic novel with none of the breathlessness and chattiness that one often finds in books for and about teens, and the strong characterizations make the main players’ behavior realistic; for instance, Reece, despite her staunch athleticism, attends a few alcohol-fueled parties as she gets acclimated to her new surroundings, as many teens would. The action and exposition come at a fast clip, but not so quickly as to overwhelm and confuse readers, and although the constitution subplot feels like a bit of a run-around, the author does smoothly integrate it into the plot. In the end, the protagonist comes to an important realization—that, in life, “Perfection was overrated.”
An often humorous and insightful story of teens becoming self-aware young adults.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-369-50457-9
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A thought-provoking exploration of storytelling dynamics in a social media–driven society.
A Black basketball star starts his senior year by pivoting to find his true voice in the classroom.
Ossie Brown was destined for greatness before an injury in a game ended his high school basketball career. Ossie feels like his future was stolen—and on top of that, his girlfriend dumps him. Grandma Alice comforts him with a reminder that basketball doesn’t define him; still, the game helped Ossie cope with his fractured relationship with his widowed mother. A new opportunity opens up when Ms. Hunt, Ossie’s Black English teacher at mostly white Braxton Academy, where he has a full-ride scholarship, tells him about the Mark Twain Creative Writing Program. A vivid dream in which his father speaks to him inspires Ossie’s application essay. He connects with Luis and Naima, the only other participants who aren’t white, but agitation by conservative students against a “woke agenda” leads to Ms. Hunt’s replacement by a teacher who exclusively uses texts by white authors. Ossie’s online attempt to support Naima’s protest has unintended consequences, and he’s forced to reevaluate his solo activism. The central characters’ relationships will engage readers, and Ossie’s dilemma will resonate with anyone whose good intentions have gone sideways. Committed, pragmatic, and reflective Ossie ultimately learns from Grandma Alice’s wise counsel: “This thing of ours—life, you see—is only as beautiful as the bonds we make as we journey through it.”
A thought-provoking exploration of storytelling dynamics in a social media–driven society. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781536233469
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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