Falters in its oversimplified portrayal of a complicated region and people.
Parallel storylines take readers through the lives of two young people on Sept. 11 in 2001 and 2019.
In the contemporary timeline, Reshmina is an Afghan girl living in foothills near the Pakistan border that are a battleground between the Taliban and U.S. armed forces. She is keen to improve her English while her twin brother, Pasoon, is inspired by the Taliban and wants to avenge their older sister, killed by an American bomb on her wedding day. Reshmina helps a wounded American soldier, making her village a Taliban target. In 2001, Brandon Chavez is spending the day with his father, who works at the World Trade Center’s Windows on the World restaurant. Brandon is heading to the underground mall when a plane piloted by al-Qaida hits the tower, and his father is among those killed. The two storylines develop in parallel through alternating chapters. Gratz’s deeply moving writing paints vivid images of the loss and fear of those who lived through the trauma of 9/11. However, this nuance doesn’t extend to the Afghan characters; Reshmina and Pasoon feel one-dimensional. Descriptions of the Taliban’s Afghan victims and Reshmina's gentle father notwithstanding, references to all young men eventually joining the Taliban and Pasoon's zeal for their cause counteract this messaging. Explanations for the U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan in the author’s note and in characters’ conversations too simplistically present the U.S. presence.
Falters in its oversimplified portrayal of a complicated region and people. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-24575-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
A story just as relevant in our world, “where innocent people face persecution and death for making a choice about what they...
“There’s no place for the likes of you in our class,” Sasha Zaichik’s teacher tells him, and that seems to be the motto of the whole Stalinist nation.
Yelchin’s debut novel does a superb job of depicting the tyranny of the group, whether residents of a communal apartment, kids on the playground, students in the classroom or government officials. It’s the readiness of the group to create outsiders—bad ones, “unreliables,” “wreckers”—by instilling fear in everyone that chills. Not many books for such a young audience address the Stalinist era, when, between 1923 and 1953, leaving a legacy of fear for future generations. Joseph Stalin’s State Security was responsible for exiling, executing or imprisoning 20 million people. Sasha is 10 years old and is devoted to Stalin, even writing adoring letters to Comrade Stalin expressing his eagerness at becoming a Young Pioneer. But his mother has died mysteriously, his father has been imprisoned and Sasha finds he has important moral choices to make. Yelchin’s graphite illustrations are an effective complement to his prose, which unfurls in Sasha’s steady, first-person voice, and together they tell an important tale.
A story just as relevant in our world, “where innocent people face persecution and death for making a choice about what they believe to be right,” as that of Yelchin’s childhood. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9216-5
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Colorfully relayed and gratifying to read.
It’s 1974, and Josephine and Mama have given up their tony apartment and moved into the Happy World Trailer Park, in Glendale, Tennessee. Only problem is, it isn’t a happy place.
With Josephine’s dad gone and Mama’s sewing business suffering financially, they have no choice. The limited third-person narration describes Josephine’s views of “every miserable thing there was to see in Happy World,” from the rundown trailers to the residents who are facing challenges. Josephine meets Lisa Marie, who’s also 10 and who lives with her grandaddy and great-uncle. Lisa Marie tells her about a girl from the neighborhood named Molly, who was kidnapped nearly a year ago and hasn’t been found. Molly’s mom looks as if she’s barely hanging on. Josephine is struggling, too, but she’s convinced that she and Molly have “a kind of sisterhood,” and she’s sure that if she can rescue Molly, her own circumstances will become bearable. Things move quickly after Josephine recognizes and interprets a clue that might point to Molly’s whereabouts, leading to a thrilling and dangerous climax. The resulting relationships forged are well worth it all. Josephine’s resilience and ability to reassess herself and her situation are admirable. Difficult topics such as divorce, poverty, abduction, terminal illness, and incarceration are thoughtfully and age-appropriately explored. Most characters are cued white.
Colorfully relayed and gratifying to read. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9780823453696
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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