In a small Pennsylvania town during WWII, Kerr (What Became of Her, 2000, etc.) demonstrates her command of time, place, and atmosphere in this tale about the effect a young man’s decision has on his family and the community at large when he decides to become a conscientious objector. It’s a subject that is rarely examined, and although the story is light on drama and heavy on talk, Kerr’s scrutiny of the various issues is thoughtful and fair-minded. When Jubal Shoemaker is 13, his older brother Bud, a devout Quaker with “a self righteous streak” leaves the family to work in a Civilian Public Service camp rather than joining the military. Although several Quakers in the community join the service as noncombatants, Bud is the only one who eschews the armed forces all together. As more and more young men go off to fight and die, Bud’s choice becomes an embarrassment to Jubal’s father, a proud business owner. Customers drop away and his ambivalence and anger causes a rift in his marriage and a breakdown of his spirit. Jubal, however, sees Bud’s actions as essentially moral and courageous and wonders if he’ll have the guts to emulate him when his time comes. His heart is further pulled when he develops a secret quasi-romantic relationship with the daughter of a jingoistic radio host whose sons are soldiers. The surprise ending strains credibility as it tries to have it both ways, and the story concludes on an odd melancholy note. Nevertheless, this is engrossing and thought-provoking. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-06-029481-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
At the end of the term, a new student who is black and Vietnamese finds a morsel of hope that she too will find a place in...
This is almost like a play for 18 voices, as Grimes (Stepping Out with Grandma Mac, not reviewed, etc.) moves her narration among a group of high school students in the Bronx.
The English teacher, Mr. Ward, accepts a set of poems from Wesley, his response to a month of reading poetry from the Harlem Renaissance. Soon there’s an open-mike poetry reading, sponsored by Mr. Ward, every month, and then later, every week. The chapters in the students’ voices alternate with the poems read by that student, defiant, shy, terrified. All of them, black, Latino, white, male, and female, talk about the unease and alienation endemic to their ages, and they do it in fresh and appealing voices. Among them: Janelle, who is tired of being called fat; Leslie, who finds friendship in another who has lost her mom; Diondra, who hides her art from her father; Tyrone, who has faith in words and in his “moms”; Devon, whose love for books and jazz gets jeers. Beyond those capsules are rich and complex teens, and their tentative reaching out to each other increases as through the poems they also find more of themselves. Steve writes: “But hey! Joy / is not a crime, though / some people / make it seem so.”
At the end of the term, a new student who is black and Vietnamese finds a morsel of hope that she too will find a place in the poetry. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2569-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2001
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