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MY YEAR OF EPIC ROCK

Name: MY YEAR OF EPIC ROCK
Author: Andrea Pyros
ISBN: 978-1-4022-9300-9

by Andrea Pyros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2014

Slightly bland, though valuable for its portrayal of a young person living with serious food allergies.

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The start of seventh grade is supposed to be filled with excitement for Nina and her best friend, Brianna, but Nina suddenly finds herself adrift when Brianna ditches her for a new, more sophisticated and ultracool best friend.

Feeling abandoned isn’t the only challenge that Nina faces. She also has several dangerous food allergies and must be extremely careful about what she eats. Now that Brianna has moved on, Nina begins eating lunch at the “peanut-free table” with the other kids who have food allergies. As she forms new friendships, Nina is able to recognize some of Brianna’s crueler traits. She comes to realize that she was living in the shadow of her former friend and begins to feel more comfortable being herself. Her new group decides to form a band, the EpiPens, to perform at the upcoming school talent show. However, music plays a very minor role in the plot, which is mostly driven by Nina’s struggles with food and friendship. The narrative is quite tame in its language, humor and romance (particularly given the ages represented), making it a good choice for younger readers.

Slightly bland, though valuable for its portrayal of a young person living with serious food allergies. (Fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4022-9300-9

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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CLUES TO THE UNIVERSE

by Christina Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 2021

Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.

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An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.

Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.

Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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NUMBER THE STARS

by Lois Lowry ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1989

A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...

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The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.

Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.

A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)