Julie and Lydia discover just how rocky the road to romance can be in the sixth installment of Ignatow’s Popularity Papers.
Things have gotten complicated ever since Roland kissed Julie. She isn’t sure if he wants to be her boyfriend or just friends—until he asks her on a date to the movies. Julie navigates her first relationship, guided by plenty of questionable advice from meddling classmate Jane and rules from a very worried Papa Dad (“If at least one of Julie’s fathers does not like her date then she is not allowed to date them. Ever”). Meanwhile, Lydia learns that her mother is marrying her former soccer coach, Eric. Lydia and her sister, Melody, implement Operation Sabotage to stop the wedding and keep Eric from leaving his children in England—the way their father left them years earlier. Through their shared notebook, Julie and Lydia detail the changes love brings to their lives. Although the girls have plenty of problems to solve, their quick banter keeps the tone light. Lydia’s and Julie’s brightly colored doodles bring Ignatow’s story to life and showcase their personalities, but the book’s passed-notebook format feels forced, especially as the girls rehash experiences they’ve shared together. Still, fans of the series will be rewarded with plenty of giggle-worthy antics from Julie and Lydia.
A fizzy, quirky tale of adolescent angst that has, perhaps, outgrown its format. (Graphic fiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0859-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“I’m honestly not sure how I ended up outside with a ladder, a cat, and a bag of road salt.” Bookish sixth-grader Magnolia, called Maggie, straddles that spot between childhood and being a teenager. She believes in witches, gargoyles and dragons, and, over and over, her imagination causes her friends to ask, “How do you come up with these ideas? The well-meaning girl explores her Bloor Street (Toronto) neighborhood with best friend Sasha while avoiding her nemesis, Jarrett Johnson. After bravely entering a “haunted house” (really a tattoo parlor), Maggie is convinced that its proprietor is a witch who has cast a spell on her. Her bad luck rains down in buckets, and Maggie tries all sorts of crazy curse-reversing cures before doing what she should have done in the first place. Maggie’s understanding teacher, Mrs. Fedorchuk, whose e-mails begin each chapter, gently nudges Maggie to find what she is best at. The rich cast of secondary characters, including Maggie’s parents and small circle of understanding friends, help flesh out this satisfying story, which is told in Maggie's humorous, self-deprecating voice. Because Maggie is a particularly innocent sixth grader, readers as young as third grade can enjoy this window into the middle-school world and will hope to have friends like Magnolia and Sasha. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55277-536-3
Page Count: 120
Publisher: James Lorimer
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.
Hannah Hadley is a young special agent who must thwart a clear and present danger to the United States in Hoover’s “smart is cool” young adult novel.
Hannah Hadley might seem like most 13-year-old girls. She enjoys painting, playing with her MP3 player and spending time with friends. But that’s where the similarities end. Hadley doubles as Agent 10-1, among the youngest spies drafted into the CIA’s Div Y department. She’s joined in her missions by her 10-pound Shih Tzu, Kiwi (with whom she communicates telepathically), and her best friend Tommie Claire, a blind girl with heightened senses. When duty calls, the group sneaks to a hidden command center located under the floor of Hadley’s art studio. Her current mission, aptly named “Operation Farmer Jones,” takes her to a secluded farmhouse in Canada. There, al-Qaida terrorists have gathered the necessary ingredients for a particularly devastating nuclear warhead that they intend to fire into America. The villains are joined by the Mad Madam of Mayhem, a physicist for hire whom the terrorists force to complete the weapon of mass destruction. With Charlie Higson’s Young James Bond series and the ongoing 39 Clues novellas, covert missions and secret plans are the plots of choice in much of today’s fiction for young readers, and references to the famed 007 stories abound in Hoover’s tale. But while the plot feels familiar, Hoover’s use of modern slang—albeit strained at times—and gadgets such as the iTouch appeal to today’s youth. Placing girls in adult situations has been a mainstay since Mildred Wirt Benson first introduced readers to Nancy Drew in The Secret of the Old Clock, but Hannah Hadley is like Nancy Drew on steroids. Both are athletic, score well in their studies and have a measure of popularity. Hadley, however, displays a genius-level intellect and near superhuman abilities in her efforts to roust the terrorists—handy skills for a young teen spy who just so happens to get the best grades in school.
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0615419688
Page Count: 239
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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