Raw and sad but lit with occasional glints of humor and ending, as it should, on a rising note.
The sudden loss of her closest friend leaves a child clinging desperately to memories and connections.
Deep in denial, Ayla is sure that though her lifelong bestie “went away,” Kiri (who used they/them pronouns) will be back in time for their 11th birthday. But, as gradually becomes clear, “went away” means more than just a temporary absence. Cast in half-page prose poems, this grief journal sensitively tracks Ayla’s hard progress from “Kiri left” to an acknowledgment of what really happened to Kiri and, past that, to a tentative understanding that Kiri will always be present in the negative spaces that, as in a drawing, make everything else “full of color and shape and life.” Rather than trot in a therapist or some other mouthpiece for wise counseling, the author gives her protagonist subtler (and more believably effective) help reaching that insight—most notably parents who give her space rather than unwanted advice, and her grandfather’s old telephone. Placed in the tree that was planted at her birth, the phone draws passersby to make therapeutic “calls” to missed family members, including (by one 5-year-old scene stealer) a beloved deceased pet. Readers feeling Ayla’s profound sense of loss will be relieved when she finds a way to live with it. Physical descriptions are minimal, but hints in the text suggest that Ayla and her family are people of color.
Raw and sad but lit with occasional glints of humor and ending, as it should, on a rising note. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780593698457
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato.
The new kid in school endures becoming the school mascot.
Ben Hardy has never cared for potatoes, and this distaste has become a barrier to adjusting to life in his new Idaho town. His school’s mascot is the Spud, and after a series of misfortunes, Ben is enlisted to don the potato costume and cheer on his school’s team. Ben balances his duties as a life-sized potato against his desperate desire to hide the fact that he’s the dork in the suit. After all, his cute new crush, Jayla, wouldn’t be too impressed to discover Ben’s secret. The ensuing novel is a fairly boilerplate middle–grade narrative: snarky tween protagonist, the crush that isn’t quite what she seems, and a pair of best friends that have more going on than our hero initially believes. The author keeps the novel moving quickly, pushing forward with witty asides and narrative momentum so fast that readers won’t really mind that the plot’s spine is one they’ve encountered many times before. Once finished, readers will feel little resonance and move on to the next book in their to-read piles, but in the moment the novel is pleasant enough. Ben, Jayla, and Ben’s friend Hunter are white while Ellie, Ben’s other good pal, is Latina.
On equal footing with a garden-variety potato. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11866-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A satisfying, winning read.
Nick Hall is a bright eighth-grader who would rather do anything other than pay attention in class.
Instead he daydreams about soccer, a girl he likes, and an upcoming soccer tournament. His linguistics-professor father carefully watches his educational progress, requiring extra reading and word study, much to Nick’s chagrin and protest. Fortunately, his best friend, Coby, shares his passion for soccer—and, sadly, the unwanted attention of twin bullies in their school. Nick senses something is going on with his parents, but their announcement that they are separating is an unexpected blow: “it’s like a bombshell / drops / right in the center / of your heart / and it splatters / all across your life.” The stress leads to counseling, and his life is further complicated by injury and emergency surgery. His soccer dream derailed, Nick turns to the books he has avoided and finds more than he expected. Alexander’s highly anticipated follow-up to Newbery-winning The Crossover is a reflective narrative, with little of the first book’s explosive energy. What the mostly free-verse novel does have is a likable protagonist, great wordplay, solid teen and adult secondary characters, and a clear picture of the challenges young people face when self-identity clashes with parental expectations. The soccer scenes are vivid and will make readers wish for more, but the depiction of Nick as he unlocks his inner reader is smooth and believable.
A satisfying, winning read. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-57098-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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