A passionate tale that’s not only about whales, but also about the fate of the planet.
This debut YA adventure features two teenagers whose lives intersect after an orca attack at an aquatic theme park.
Thirteen-year-old Terra Incognita Lewis has grown up in a family of scientists who study the killer whales of Washington state’s Puget Sound. She’s tried to teach the whales Morse code using a hydrophone and a drum, and recently, she dreamed of a new calf being born to the pod. As Terra and her best friend, Tiluk, wonder whether the pod’s leader, Granny, communicated this dream information to her, Terra’s parents learn of an emergency across the country in Florida. There, 14-year-old Miles Frost, along with his mother and younger sister, were at OceanLand to take in the “Lunch with Shantu” orca show. While eating, they witnessed the 12,000-pound animal kill an experienced trainer. To cope with the trauma, Miles sneaks into Shantu’s holding area before the park opens and plays music for the animal on his xylophone. Astonishingly, Shantu responds. Meanwhile, Terra and Tiluk learn from their parents that the deadly orca once belonged to the pod they’ve spent their lives studying. Terra researches the horrors that captive whales face and shares her knowledge through social media. Her communication with whales, however, has only just begun. Author Clark offers her audience doses of scientific information and spiritual richness. The depiction of the tragedy and of Puget Sound’s Southern Resident whales closely mirrors the story of Tilikum, the real-life orca whose murderous behavior features in the 2013 documentary Blackfish. The details included here (Shantu “looked like a dog who’d snatched a roast ham from the dining room table”) are sometimes shocking, though they’re necessary to deliver the full impact of Clark’s larger message. In the novel’s second half, Terra experiences a dream quest in which she learns about “The Fallacy,” “a feverish sickness” that has tricked people into believing they’re separate from nature. Although the depths of Terra’s eventual connectedness to the whales may be too abstract for younger readers, Clark goes above and beyond the call in revealing the grace inherent to all species. Wonderful black-and-white illustrations by Savory enhance the message.
A passionate tale that’s not only about whales, but also about the fate of the planet.Pub Date: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-945419-00-3
Page Count: 316
Publisher: Fawkes Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A swift fable about navigating the perils of middle school.
A bossy middle school fashionista feels threatened by the new girl in Saii’s YA novel.
Vanessa Pocker and her friends Chelsea, Adrienne and Katie are the richest of the rich in their Santa Monica, Calif., middle school, and they comprise the Sassy Divas. Vanessa leads the pack and dictates whom the divas are allowed to talk to, what they’re allowed to wear and how they conduct themselves in public. Vanessa is so domineering that it’s a miracle she has any friends at all. Had Saii endowed her with an ounce of kindness, the loyalty of her minions might be more understandable. Vanessa’s militant nature finally alienates Katie, the diva who is too much of a bookworm, according to Vanessa. Katie befriends Flo, who’s on the Sassy Diva “do not speak to” list (Flo had once refused to hold Vanessa’s purse). Excommunicated from the Sassy Divas, Katie befriends the new girl at the school, Quinn. This infuriates Vanessa, and she declares war. A power play ensues among the adversarial lip-glossed sets, with Vanessa, Chelsea and Adrienne on one side and Katie, Quinn and Flo on the other. Vanessa turns to guy friend Ryan, who offers the only voice of reason when he admonishes her for obsessing over trivialities, such as revenge and makeovers, when there are starving children in the world. He seems to be nothing more than Vanessa’s sounding board, and it’s unclear what he gets out of the relationship. At least Vanessa buys clothes and makeup for her divas, on occasion. Mired in trendy youngster lingo, Saii’s tale accurately depicts girls’ power plays and the alienation that can result from simply owning jeans without a designer label. Fashion, gossip, popularity and shopping define these characters, and any threat of competition is cause for war. Vanessa’s parents rarely make appearances, except for a poignant scene when Vanessa’s mother engages her daughter in a heart-to-heart about her selfish behavior. It’s a relief to finally hear the mother speak and lead the story to an ending marked with humor and depth. Saii’s literary chops are inconsistently displayed and improve toward the conclusion. Although the average middle school girl may not wear Jimmy Choos or form private elitist groups, young readers might find themselves curious about these affluent trendsetters. At least Vanessa learns her lesson, which raises the novel a notch above teenybopper fluff.
A swift fable about navigating the perils of middle school.Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 9781937675080
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Lekha Publishers
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An intriguing, if not always emotionally engaging, story of a serious teen problem.
Somers’ debut young-adult novel follows a teenage boy from sickness to tenuous health as he battles an eating disorder and the problems that helped create it.
Nathan is a typical teen with typical problems, including an unhappy family life and romantic disappointment, but he’s got an unhealthy “solution” for dealing with them: starving and purging himself. His descent into bulimia and anorexia occurs quite quickly; it starts with Nathan taking short bike rides to get away from his domineering father and alcoholic mother, and soon he’s inducing vomiting; not long afterward, he’s admitted to an eating-disorder program, at which point the book seems to find its center. Nathan is the only boy in his unit, a fact that his status-obsessed parents find it hard to understand; in fact, as the book makes clear, boys make up 10 percent of those who suffer from eating disorders. Somers’ novel never falls into “after-school special” territory, but it has a clear message. Nathan is depicted as a smart, cynical teenager, but his trials are sometimes more informative than heart-wrenching. The short chapters, complete with bad teenage poetry, keep the story moving, and Nathan’s dad, mom and nurse all get at least one chance to tell their side of the story. But although these multiple points of view are interesting, they may distract readers from Nathan’s personal trials. Also, the novel sometimes gets bogged down in eating-disorder program protocol; for example, a plan to interrupt Nathan’s family therapy takes two pages of emails, rather than a line or two of dialogue.
An intriguing, if not always emotionally engaging, story of a serious teen problem.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0988367203
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Rundy Hill Press LLC
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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