by Ammi-Joan Paquette ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2018
The death of a father is rendered palatable by the magical properties of a train
A boy believes in magic and its curative powers.
Marty accompanies his mother on a business trip only to have to rush home as his critically ill father worsens. He has always been close to his father and is devastated when he realizes that a denim jacket with its collection of special buttons—a gift from his father—is missing. But Marty’s father has told him the story of the magical Train of Lost Things, and he just knows in his heart that if he finds the train, he can reclaim the jacket and all will be well. Paquette now focuses her story on Marty and the train: how he finds it, boards it, and meets another passenger, a girl named Dina Khan. Unfortunately, the train is not running properly, and the piles of lost treasures are strewn all helter-skelter. There is one more person on the train, a girl named Star, who explains the train’s problems. Marty disembarks, and after his father’s death, he receives a special, unmarked package with the best gift of all. The adventure on the train is engaging enough, but it subsumes the real-life impetus for Marty’s search. Readers may find it difficult to sort out mourning the very real loss of a parent from all the magical elements herein. The ethnicity of the characters is not specified beyond Dina’s name, implying a white default.
The death of a father is rendered palatable by the magical properties of a train . (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-3939-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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by Pablo Cartaya ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2019
A pitch-perfect middle-grade novel that insightfully explores timely topics with authenticity and warmth.
A nuanced novel about a neurodiverse preteen’s political and social awakening by a Pura Belpré Honor–winning author.
Sixth grader Emilia Rosa Torres sometimes has a hard time keeping up with schoolwork and concentrating on one thing at a time, but her software-developer mother and superinvolved abuelita help her keep on task. Days before her father’s return to their Atlanta suburb from his most recent deployment, her mother goes on a business trip, leaving the middle schooler to juggle his mood swings, her friend troubles, and her looming assignments all on her own. When a social studies project opens her eyes to injustices past and present, Emilia begins to find her voice and use it to make an impact on her community. Writing with sensitivity and respectful complexity, Cartaya tackles weighty issues, such as immigration, PTSD, and microaggressions, through the lens of a budding tinkerer and activist who has ADHD. The members of this Cuban American family don’t all practice the same religion, with Emilia’s Catholic grandmother faithfully attending Mass multiple times a week and the protagonist’s mother celebrating her culture’s Yoruba roots with Santería. Conversations on race and gender crop up through the narrative as Emilia’s grandmother likes to emphasize her family’s European heritage—Emilia can pass as white, with her fair complexion, light eyes and auburn hair. All of these larger issues are effortlessly woven in with skill and humor, as is the Spanish her family easily mixes with English.
A pitch-perfect middle-grade novel that insightfully explores timely topics with authenticity and warmth. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-451-47972-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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PROFILES
by Bobbie Pyron ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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