Popular adult author Trigiani’s (Very Valentine, 2009, etc.) first young adult novel is a quick read. Fourteen-year-old Brooklyn native Viola Chesterton is not happy attending Prefect Academy (PA), an all-girls boarding school in South Bend, Ind., while her filmmaking parents are in Afghanistan for a year making a documentary. At first reluctant to embrace campus life, Viola eventually bonds with her three roommates and becomes the most popular girl on campus after—OMG—securing a hot boyfriend. She also single-handedly saves the Founders Day play with her superior knowledge of filmmaking and wins second place for her amateur film. Throughout the year, the budding filmmaker records her experiences at PA in her private video diary, The Viola Reels; her first-person narration is, like, punctuated by IM transcripts. Though the characters are flat and stereotypical, the dialogue unoriginal, the first-person narration at times self-consciously shallow and the plot predictable, teens looking for something light with a touch of romance may find something here. Here’s hoping, though, that successors in the series treat its audience with a bit more respect. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-145102-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
A beautifully realized addition to the genre.
What do you do when the world ends? Maybe just keep going to work.
Almost a year after The Storm, Liz still works alone in a bookstore in suburban New Jersey, although now customers only wander in occasionally to trade various supplies for books. She moved into the apartment on the floor above the shop, took on the role of an informal post office, and started recording the stories of regular visitors in a journal. In some ways, Liz finds this existence a relief; she hardly ever has to bother with people and all the stressors of her old life (like choosing a college major) have been washed away. But now, with another Storm coming, Liz realizes how precarious her situation really is, with dwindling food supplies and a building in desperate need of repairs. One night, she’s awakened by a creaking noise from downstairs. Armed only with a hardcover edition of Anna Karenina, Liz confronts the intruder—a girl about her age, Maeve, who’s in need of a place to stay and happens to be good at fixing things. The two form an uneasy alliance. This stellar debut is filled with cynical and witty characters who are exploring the nature of and need for human connection. The story contains just the right amount of action, balancing the introspective scenes, a blossoming queer romance, and a well-executed slow doomsday reveal. Main characters present white.
A beautifully realized addition to the genre. (Post-apocalyptic. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593899489
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
A strong declaration for supporting, loving, and empowering all Black women everywhere.
Until her mother left them, 16-year-old Nigeria Jones never questioned her father’s revolutionary vision.
As the daughter of famous Black nationalist Kofi Sankofa, it’s up to Nigeria to help raise Freedom, her baby brother, in the Movement, “whose mission is to divest from oppressive systems and create an all-Black utopia.” That means working to maintain the Village House, the home where members who need a place for healing or hearth to welcome them can stay until they get on their feet and spread the message of the Movement elsewhere. It means continuing to build the Movement’s Freedom School, completing research for her father’s books, and filling in any of the gaps left by her mother’s absence until she comes back. Nigeria knows she will come back. It does not mean sneaking off to a Quaker prep school that’s the opposite of everything her father stands for. However, when the misogyny of the Movement chips away at Nigeria’s fealty, that’s exactly where she goes. Her tumultuous personal journey toward emotional and radical self-honesty shapes this superb story of a girl missing her mother and terrified of missing out on a life that she chooses for herself. Readers may feel some themes would have benefitted from deeper exploration; still, the complexities of intracommunity gender marginalization within the Movement are a thoughtful reflection of real multilayered freedom struggles within Black diasporic communities.
A strong declaration for supporting, loving, and empowering all Black women everywhere. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9780062888846
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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