A sincere story about being true to oneself and others.
Fandom and interpersonal struggles combine in this story of middle schoolers who form an unlikely bond.
Lonely Oregon 11-year-old Millie Nakakura has been home-schooled by intense parents who pressure her to excel at the flute, something she has grown to hate. They finally allow her to enroll at an arts academy, where she is overwhelmed by teachers’ unstated expectations. Socially adrift, she finds solace in her passion for Japanese pop quintet Generation Love. Then she meets Tina “Zuki” Suzuki through after-school J-Club. The club of two grows to five as social misfits Ashley Seo and Rainbow Chan and popular girl Luna Acevedo find their way in. But it’s not smooth sailing: Zuki is hiding serious problems at home, Ashley and Luna have an obviously tense history, Luna keeps her participation secret from her queen bee friends who viciously bully vegan Rainbow, and Millie lies to her parents about her failing grades and forbidden extracurricular activity. Their decision to enter a school show as a Generation Love cover act complicates matters; figuring everything out involves self-awareness and genuine contrition. At times the characters’ voices sound too mature for sixth grade, but everyone in this well-paced story grows emotionally, showing what loyal, courageous, and humanly imperfect relationships look like. Millie is half Japanese (her other half is not specified); other characters’ ethnicities are cued by their surnames, and Ashley is nonbinary.
A sincere story about being true to oneself and others. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-31374-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
During a school year in which a gifted teacher who emphasizes personal responsibility among his fifth graders ends up in a coma from a thrown snowball, his students come to terms with their own issues and learn to be forgiving. Told in short chapters organized month-by-month in the voices of seven students, often describing the same incident from different viewpoints, this weaves together a variety of not-uncommon classroom characters and situations: the new kid, the trickster, the social bully, the super-bright and the disaffected; family clashes, divorce and death; an unwed mother whose long-ago actions haven't been forgotten in the small-town setting; class and experiential differences. Mr. Terupt engineers regular visits to the school’s special-needs classroom, changing some lives on both sides. A "Dollar Word" activity so appeals to Luke that he sprinkles them throughout his narrative all year. Danielle includes her regular prayers, and Anna never stops her hopeful matchmaking. No one is perfect in this feel-good story, but everyone benefits, including sentimentally inclined readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73882-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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