A sincere exploration of humanly imperfect love.
An endangered language becomes a metaphor for people struggling to communicate.
Betsy is “good at being second.” Her mercurial linguistics professor mother works long hours, studying languages at risk of extinction, and has parental ambitions that sit uneasily on Betsy’s shoulders. Her best friend, Lizard, meanwhile, is a possessive, outspoken, and brittle friend who brooks no opposition. Fortunately, Betsy’s father is a steady, easygoing presence. The two Colorado sixth graders seize upon a plan: They will learn Guernésiais (a language from the Channel Islands with only a couple hundred speakers), get everyone at their middle school speaking it too, and surprise Betsy’s mother with their good deed. The school musical—Betsy is excited to take part, Lizard is disdainful—leads to tension as Betsy considers the high personal cost of their friendship. Through well-drawn characters, this skillfully paced story thoughtfully addresses the need to be truly seen in our important relationships. However, the crisis of language loss is not sufficiently explained: The girls express a savior mentality (“I hope they’d be grateful that two kids in America / were at least trying to save their language for them”) that is dramatically put in check. But without more context, readers may fail to fully understand the problem with their earlier attitude. Whiteness is situated as the default; Spanish-speaking students are present as background characters, and one of Betsy’s friends from the play is Black.
A sincere exploration of humanly imperfect love. (Verse novel. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-5038-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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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