Satisfying teen entertainment but also a cathartic, uncompromising tribute to New Orleans.
Set in a storm-ravaged New Orleans, this evocative paranormal romance pits teen heroine Adele against suave ghouls.
Back from Paris and home in New Orleans, high school junior Adele is glad to be away from her coldly distant mother. The city she knew, however, has been destroyed by a superstorm. Adele and her father must adjust to a water-damaged—and frequently nightmarish—reality. Exploring their house, she’s attacked and severely scratched by a crow. Then one night, near her indefinitely closed school, she finds a corpse. This chilling episode leads to an even more surreal event, in which a convent’s shuttered window explodes, showering Adele with debris. After a large metal stake rolls near her and she grabs it, a supernatural talent begins to awaken within her. Later, she reconnects with friends and meets newcomers Gabe and Niccolò Medici, who search New Orleans for missing relatives. At home, she uses her strange new control over metal to discover the hidden diary of Adeline Saint-Germaine, her 18th-century ancestor. The diary speaks of European girls traveling to America with royal dowries in wooden boxes; the girls also used witchcraft to keep vampires at bay. Gradually, Adele sees connections among New Orleans’ high murder rate, her uncanny abilities and Saint-Germaine’s tale. Debut author Arden offers readers a full plate of Southern gothic atmospherics and sparkling teen romance in a patiently crafted tale that will best reward careful readers. Adele is a strong, sensible protagonist who’s just vulnerable enough: “His hand swept my neck as he delicately picked up the thin silver chain, following the tightly woven links all the way down to the two charms dangling at my waist.” Her winning characterization is topped off with subtly drawn superpowers: “Careful not to let them clink on the glass [of the jar] and bring attention to what I was doing, I smiled as a dime did a swan-dive to join the pirouetting nickels.” Best of all, Arden’s insights regarding her fragile city color the narrative with tragic realism: “Everything we drove past—an abandoned supermarket, a dilapidated bank, a gym, a hamburger chain, a laundry mat, a pizza joint, a housing project—everything had that same distinct mark of the Storm left on it: the water line.”
Satisfying teen entertainment but also a cathartic, uncompromising tribute to New Orleans.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989757706
Page Count: 428
Publisher: fortheARTofit Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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