Fifteen-year-old Jack Walsh is elevated from head exercise rider to “bug boy,” or apprentice jockey, after another jockey is severely injured during a race. The Saratoga Race Course in 1934 is vividly realized in Jack’s believable first-person, present-tense narration, as he navigates the dangers success brings. A gangster pressures him to deliberately lose a big race, a wealthy young female bookie energetically seduces him, his father arrives back on the scene after abandoning him as a child to a physically and sexually abusive horse trainer, and he endures the constant, graphically portrayed imperative to lose large amounts of weight quickly in order to be light enough to race. Luper is at his best depicting races that are both thrilling and plausible as Jack strategizes his way past more experienced but less clever riders. Occasional violence, sexuality and Jack’s extreme weight-loss efforts make this a more suitable read for older teens, who will find themselves thundering through the home stretch in order to discover whether Jack will win, place or show in this first-rate novel. (Historical fiction. 13 & up)
Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-374-31000-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
Marcus is black and Eddie white in a multicultural Long Island neighborhood. Known to all as “Black and White,” they have honed their athletic skills together and are in the midst of a basketball season headed to the playoffs and scholarships to good colleges. They know each other’s timing and rhythm and feel complete trust in each other. However, off the court they have decided to supplement their income by holding up strangers for money for senior activities and the latest athletic shoes. Using Grandpa’s gun from Eddie’s attic, both think their initial success means invincibility. The nightmare that ensues when Eddie inadvertently hits the trigger—and their victim—becomes the playing field for the author’s exploration of how much difference race can make in the fate of each boy and their friendship. Rather than exploring the issue of race by pretending it doesn’t exist, Volponi points directly at it, illustrating at every turn that the race of the various characters influences events as well as whether Marcus will end up in prison alone. Consequences for everyone unfold and escalate in rapid-fire fashion. Hugely discussable. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: May 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-670-06006-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2005
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