For reluctant readers not drawn to genre fiction, this story may speak to them for a little while.
Snapchat takes center stage in this Disney-esque drama about middle school girl friendships and a Snapstreak competition.
A local TV station announces a contest for the longest Snapstreak between two students from different schools. The reward is a concert by the popular boy band Boys Being Dudes. Black eighth-grader Vee, who will soon be moving to a new school, courageously asks Gwynneth, its white queen bee, to be her partner in the contest. Vee and Gwynneth are leading the competition when Vee sustains a concussion playing lacrosse and must give up screen time. Vee’s best friends, Megan, a white girl, and Lulu, a Latina, take over her cellphone for her—and things go awry quickly. The frothy story is told from multiple points of view, each girl’s voice flagged with distinctive borders. Unfortunately, all four voices sound similar. The integration of this ubiquitous app into the story mimics real life, with all the distractions and attractions in the world of young teens, and the inaccurate assumptions the girls form via Snapchat make for a strong message. Even though Snapchat legally requires users to be 13, this book for preteens assumes familiarity with its conventions. Luckily, emoji-speak and acronyms are kept to a minimum. The content may already be dated, as the ephemeral Snapchat “story” function has overtaken “chatting.”
For reluctant readers not drawn to genre fiction, this story may speak to them for a little while. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-328-71346-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato.
The new kid in school endures becoming the school mascot.
Ben Hardy has never cared for potatoes, and this distaste has become a barrier to adjusting to life in his new Idaho town. His school’s mascot is the Spud, and after a series of misfortunes, Ben is enlisted to don the potato costume and cheer on his school’s team. Ben balances his duties as a life-sized potato against his desperate desire to hide the fact that he’s the dork in the suit. After all, his cute new crush, Jayla, wouldn’t be too impressed to discover Ben’s secret. The ensuing novel is a fairly boilerplate middle–grade narrative: snarky tween protagonist, the crush that isn’t quite what she seems, and a pair of best friends that have more going on than our hero initially believes. The author keeps the novel moving quickly, pushing forward with witty asides and narrative momentum so fast that readers won’t really mind that the plot’s spine is one they’ve encountered many times before. Once finished, readers will feel little resonance and move on to the next book in their to-read piles, but in the moment the novel is pleasant enough. Ben, Jayla, and Ben’s friend Hunter are white while Ellie, Ben’s other good pal, is Latina.
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11866-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy.
Inventively tweaking a popular premise, Jensen pits two Incredibles-style families with superpowers against each other—until a new challenge rises to unite them.
The Johnsons invariably spit at the mere mention of their hated rivals, the Baileys. Likewise, all Baileys habitually shake their fists when referring to the Johnsons. Having long looked forward to getting a superpower so that he too can battle his clan’s nemeses, Rafter Bailey is devastated when, instead of being able to fly or something else cool, he acquires the “power” to strike a match on soft polyester. But when hated classmate Juanita Johnson turns up newly endowed with a similarly bogus power and, against all family tradition, they compare notes, it becomes clear that something fishy is going on. Both families regard themselves as the heroes and their rivals as the villains. Someone has been inciting them to fight each other. Worse yet, that someone has apparently developed a device that turns real superpowers into silly ones. Teaching themselves on the fly how to get past their prejudice and work together, Rafter, his little brother, Benny, and Juanita follow a well-laid-out chain of clues and deductions to the climactic discovery of a third, genuinely nefarious family, the Joneses, and a fiendishly clever scheme to dispose of all the Baileys and Johnsons at once. Can they carry the day?
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy. (Adventure. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-220961-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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