A shy fifth-grader has a hard-enough time getting by in his new school on his own, but his mother's new career as an events DJ threatens to undermine what little respect he may have earned from his classmates. Brendan Breen (one of his mother's many faults is a penchant for alliterative names) knows that his mother's appearance at the school's Music and Munchies Night will ruin his life forever, but none of his plans to prevent it work: his aunt refuses to feign a deathly illness on the day of the event; his mother rejects his suggestion that she use a different name; and she is downright offended when he brings home a wig so she will be unrecognizable. Predictably, Music and Munchies Night is an unqualified success, and Brendan even survives—and enjoys—doing the hokey-pokey. Wound around this plot is Brendan's slow integration into the classroom culture via a group project, and his ultimate discovery that he himself is something of a showman. Newcomer McDonough has crafted a comfortable, if thoroughly predictable, tale about fitting in, presenting a world in which the worst possible thing that can happen is embarrassment. The book seems unsure of its audience: Urbanovic's spot black-and-white cartoons are very young-looking and pigeonhole it squarely for younger readers, but the font size and relative denseness of text make it look older and somewhat more forbidding than the average early chapter book. There are some mildly amusing moments, but this ultimately superficial story does nothing particularly new. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8126-2699-0
Page Count: 120
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2001
Despite its lackluster execution, this story’s simple premise and basic vocabulary make it suitable for younger readers...
From the author of the Animorphs series comes this earnest novel in verse about an orphaned Sudanese war refugee with a passion for cows, who has resettled in Minnesota with relatives.
Arriving in winter, Kek spots a cow that reminds him of his father’s herd, a familiar sight in an alien world. Later he returns with Hannah, a friendly foster child, and talks the cow’s owner into hiring him to look after it. When the owner plans to sell the cow, Kek becomes despondent. Full of wide-eyed amazement and unalloyed enthusiasm for all things American, Kek is a generic—bordering on insulting—stereotype. His tribe, culture and language are never identified; personal details, such as appearance and age, are vague or omitted. Lacking the quirks and foibles that bring characters to life, Kek seems more a composite of traits designed to instruct readers than an engaging individual in his own right.
Despite its lackluster execution, this story’s simple premise and basic vocabulary make it suitable for younger readers interested in the plight of war refugees. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-312-36765-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
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