A rousing celebration of friendship, self-expression, and self-advocacy.
Aspiring musical actor Natalie Beacon sets her sights on Broadway in the sequel to The Chance To Fly (2021).
A month after their Wicked performance, 13-year-old Nat feels totally synced with her fellow Oz Bounderz—especially her boyfriend, Malik. But the new school year threatens to disrupt their harmony. The Bounderz are split between schools, which makes Nat’s not-so-accessible introduction to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School as the “New Kid…in the Wheelchair” even harder. Fortunately, musical theater’s bound to be a bright spot—especially if MLK Jr.’s upcoming performance of Footloose lands the cast a shot at winning the Timmys, a junior Broadway competition. When Nat and Malik are cast as the lead couple, Nat is ecstatic, but stumbling blocks abound. Malik’s preoccupation with his band disrupts their rehearsals, and Hudson, enthralled with his boyfriend, is strangely aloof. Worst of all, the choreographer prizes synchronization, but it’s hard for Nat to translate her castmates’ flashy footwork to wheelchair dancing. Are her castmates’ snide comments true—was Nat’s casting based on her disability rather than her talent? Stoker and Davidowitz poignantly and perceptively explore external and internalized ableism; in particular, Nat’s initially awkward reaction to a nonspeaking student is uncomfortably realistic. But the infectious enthusiasm for theater never wanes, and a stirring conclusion leaves readers on a high note. Nat reads white; Malik is cued Black, and there’s diversity among the secondary cast.
A rousing celebration of friendship, self-expression, and self-advocacy. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781419764042
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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