Working frantically to save their historic school from the wrecking ball scheduled in three weeks, sixth graders Ben Pratt and Jill Acton find the first of five safeguards planted more than 200 years earlier, an ally and treasure that may also help their cause. The story opens immediately after Ben has saved his arch enemy’s life, and readers will need to be familiar with We the Children (2010), the first in this planned six-volume series, to identify the characters and understand their relationships. Like that title, this is fast-paced and full of intriguing details ranging from clues leading to a hidden document and antique coins to the story of Horatio at the bridge and references to Jack London. Ben alternates between parents; in the first book he was living on his father's sailboat, so this week, he's home with his mother. Janitor Lyman continues to threaten, and even Jill seems nervous. The Massachusetts seaside setting takes a back seat to the increasing tension. Readers who’ve begun this well-written, modern kid-power mystery series will be glad to see this and eager for more. (Mystery. 8-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4169-3887-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power.
Will 12-year-old Nura be able to outsmart the trickster jinn and save herself and her friends?
Nura lives in the fictional Pakistani town of Meerabagh, where she has worked mining mica to help support her family of five—her mother, herself, and her three younger siblings—since her father’s death. In the mines she has the company of her best friend, Faisal, who is teased by other kids for his stutter, and she enjoys small pleasures like splurging on gulab jamun. Although Maa wants Nura to stop working and attend school, she has no interest in classroom learning and hopes to save up to send her younger siblings to school instead so they can break the family’s cycle of poverty. Following a mining accident in which Faisal and others are lost in the rubble, Nura goes to the rescue. In her quest, she is plunged into the magical, glittering jinn realm, where nothing is as it seems. The author seamlessly weaves into the worldbuilding of the story commentary on real-life problems such as the ravages of child labor and systems that perpetuate inequities. An informative author’s note further explores present-day global cycles of oppression as well as the life-changing power of education. This action-packed story set in a Muslim community moves at a fast pace, with evocative writing that brings the fantasy world to life and lyrical imagery to describe emotions.
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5795-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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