Simultaneously sad and life affirming; a poetry-filled, inspiring call to activism.
It’s the height of the AIDS panic in New York City, and Iris’ father is dying.
Last year, when Iris Cohen was in sixth grade, her parents got divorced because her dad came out. Her folks still love each other and even live in the same building. Dad’s boyfriend, J.R., is so wonderful and kind that it’s hard work to hate him (“If you lost your focus for even a minute, you started to love him”). But it’s 1987, Dad is dying of AIDS, and the panic over the so-called gay plague is at a fever pitch. Iris discovers his diagnosis is no secret when the best teacher at her mostly White private school overreacts with ludicrous terror when Iris gets a splinter and there’s a tiny drop of blood on her finger. How can you grieve when people are so scared that they won’t go near a dead man’s ashes without protective gear? Framed by lovely acrostic poems by Iris and her dad, the book shows a girl focusing her rage and pain into love through the nascent radical activism of ACT UP. An informative author’s note describes the complex relationships of early AIDS activists with Dr. Anthony Fauci and adds factual historical nuance to various elements of the story as presented. The homophobia of the 1980s and the horror of AIDS deaths are softened for the middle-grade audience but still clearly present.
Simultaneously sad and life affirming; a poetry-filled, inspiring call to activism. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-316-46204-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
PROFILES
An outstanding new edition of this popular modern classic (Newbery Award, 1961), with an introduction by Zena Sutherland and...
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-395-53680-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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