cover image
LATEST ISSUE OF
Kirkus Reviews
Check out our interview with Rick Yancey, author of the wildly entertaining YA thriller The 5th Wave.
Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS



2011 Newbery Medal Winner and Honor Books

Cover art for MOON OVER MANIFEST
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 12, 2010
Kirkus Star MOON OVER MANIFEST
by Claire Vanderpool
"The absolute necessity of story as a way to redemption and healing past wounds is at the heart of this beautiful debut, and readers will cherish every word up to the heartbreaking yet hopeful and deeply gratifying ending. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)"
When 12-year-old Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kan., in 1936 to stay with her father's boyhood friend, little does she know her sojourn will take her back, via mesmerizing tales, newspaper clippings, curious mementoes and World War I letters, to Manifest as it was in 1918—and into the life of the mysterious boy nicknamed Jinx. Read full book review >
Cover art for HEART OF A SAMURAI
CHILDREN'S
Released: Aug. 1, 2010
Kirkus Star HEART OF A SAMURAI: BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF NAKAHAMA MANJIRO
by Margi Preus, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
"The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy, by Rhoda Blumberg (2001). (historical note, extensive glossary, bibliography.) (Historical fiction. 9-13)"
In 1841, 14-year-old Manjiro joined four others on an overnight fishing trip. Read full book review >
Cover art for TURTLE IN PARADISE
CHILDREN'S
Released: May 25, 2010
Kirkus Star TURTLE IN PARADISE
by Jennifer L. Holm
"Sweet, funny and superb. (Historical fiction. 9-13)"
Eleven-year-old Turtle falls in with the Diaper Gang—her boy cousins Beans, Kermit and Buddy and their friends Ira and Pork Chop—when she is packed off to stay in her mother's hometown of Key West because her housekeeper mother has a new job with a woman who doesn't like kids. Read full book review >
Cover art for ONE CRAZY SUMMER
CHILDREN'S
Released: Feb. 1, 2010
Kirkus Star ONE CRAZY SUMMER
by Rita Williams-Garcia
"The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page. (Historical fiction. 9-12)"
A flight from New York to Oakland, Calif., to spend the summer of 1968 with the mother who abandoned Delphine and her two sisters was the easy part. Read full book review >