A painful story smartly told, Benjamin’s first solo novel has appeal well beyond a middle school audience.
In middle school, where “Worst Thing” can mean anything from a pimple to public humiliation, Suzy “Zu” Swanson really has a reason to be in crisis: her former best friend has died unexpectedly, and the seventh-grader is literally silenced by grief and confusion.
A chance encounter with a jellyfish display on a school trip gives her focus—for Zu, the venomous Irukandji jellyfish, while rare, provides a possible explanation for the “how” of Franny’s death. And Zu is desperate for answers and relief from her haunting grief and guilt. In seven parts neatly organized around the scientific method as presented by Mrs. Turton, a middle school teacher who really gets the fragility of her students, Zu examines and analyzes past and present. A painful story of friendship made and lost emerges: the inseparable early years, Franny’s pulling away, Zu’s increasing social isolation, and a final attempt by Zu to honor a childhood pact. The author gently paints Zu as a bit of an oddball; not knowing what hair product to use leaves her feeling “like a separate species altogether,” and knowing too many species of jellyfish earns her the nickname Medusa. Surrounded by the cruelty of adolescence, Zu is awkward, smart, methodical, and driven by sadness. She eventually follows her research far beyond the middle school norm, because “ ‘Sometimes things just happen’ is not an explanation. It is not remotely scientific.”
A painful story smartly told, Benjamin’s first solo novel has appeal well beyond a middle school audience. (Fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-38086-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It is far beyond the emotional understanding of the usual picture-book audience and ultimately without substance or purpose...
"March to the beat of your own drummer and never look back," appears to be the theme of this picture book for teens.
Thomas resents and defies family, teachers and peers, whether they are asking him to keep clean, do his homework or show respect. He hides behind his headphones as they deliver accusations and predict his failure, but he offers nothing as an alternative. He interprets cultural pressures that urge him to join the military or to vote or to embrace religion as demands to “do as we say, think like us, be like us.” This mantra appears frequently, sometimes shouting at readers in large bold letters and sometimes hiding in gray beneath other text. Gleeson’s spare, terse syntax is woven within and around Greder’s stark, rather vicious, gray-and-black illustrations that variously fill the pages or are scattered in panels. Thomas is depicted only in the final pages, drawn in lightly colored hues, first surrounded by childhood toys and last seen heading for a bus, presumably leaving home with destination and future unknown. All of this is way beyond teenage angst or even a search for one’s passion or raison d’etre. The overall mood of the piece is one of intense, unremitting anger.
It is far beyond the emotional understanding of the usual picture-book audience and ultimately without substance or purpose for older readers. Dark, bitter and disturbing. (Picture book. 13 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-74237-333-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A plucky orphan runs away to join an intergalactic circus in this frenetic science-fiction/adventure tale.
After bullies at the Bleeker Academy for Girls prevent her from attending a gymnastics competition—and thus becoming an astronaut—and a mysterious man visits her in the middle of the night, 15-year-old Beatrix Ling finds refuge with a space-faring circus. The performers aboard the Big Top are all Tinker-touched, spreading diversity and color where the descendants of the Mandate leave conformity and order. Trix’s suddenly pink hair helps her fit in, but she seems to lack superpowers like her classmates’. Trying to juggle homework—because even spaceships have school—the social scene and her budding affection for the enigmatic Ringmaster, Trix must also protect her parents’ special rock and outrun the villainous Nyl, an agent of the Mandate. The razzle-dazzle of circus life in outer space and the constant action offer plenty of distraction from the sometimes contrived plot, abundant similes and occasionally melodramatic dialogue. Fagan’s (The Magical Misadventures of Prunella Bogthistle, 2010) vibrant and tactile descriptions make for a cinematic read, and certain elements are reminiscent of such fantasy and science-fiction mainstays as Doctor Who, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Harry Potter.
A book that reaches for the stars and provides a thrilling ride. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-58136-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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