Giving this story its lift is its profound and infectious love of musical theater. Budding thespians will applaud.
Things go so badly awry at rehearsals for the Shaker Heights Middle School production of Guys and Dolls that Jack and Louisa, the school’s “resident theater nerds” and the stars of the musical, wonder if the show will go up.
After an overlong, dullish trip to New York City, the anticipation begins to build when Jack Goodrich and Louisa Benning audition for their school’s upcoming production of Guys and Dolls. They’re particularly excited because Belinda Grier, a real Broadway actress, has taken over as the director. But Belinda is not happy when she learns that Jack is a professional actor who has also appeared on Broadway. When Jack, in a clever scene, successfully teaches a group of soccer players some tricky choreography by comparing the dance steps to soccer moves, jealousy rears its ugly head. Soon Belinda, in the guise of pushing Jack to reach his full potential, is giving the seventh-grade boy a hard time during rehearsals. Louisa, who’s getting nothing but praise, is initially oblivious to Jack’s situation, but once she tunes in, she takes a courageous stance to help. Even though Belinda’s jealousy and complete turnaround are psychologically improbable, the story works and the resolution is suspenseful and uplifting.
Giving this story its lift is its profound and infectious love of musical theater. Budding thespians will applaud. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-448-47840-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
This debut is a treasure: a gift to every middle school girl who ever felt unpretty, unloved, and trapped by her...
In pursuit of her dreams, Vanessa becomes an unlikely contestant in her middle school’s first-ever pageant.
African-American eighth-grader Vanessa Martin is glued to the TV when Vanessa Williams is crowned the first black Miss America in 1983. Inspired, Vanessa imagines her own dreams coming true. Maybe she can rise above her painful family problems and dissatisfaction with her dark skin. Maybe she can escape her gang- and drug-plagued neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. But when the new music teacher, Mrs. Walton, who is white, encourages Vanessa to audition for the school’s first-ever pageant, she declines. She has an extraordinary singing voice but lacks the confidence to compete. When Mrs. Walton, Vanessa’s grandpa Pop Pop, and her cousin TJ join forces to get her to try out, she must face her fears—and the neighborhood mean girl—to have a shot at realizing her dreams. Vanessa’s compelling story unfolds through a combination of first-person narrative, diary entries, and well-crafted poems that perfectly capture the teen voice and perspective. From the first page, readers are drawn into Vanessa’s world, a place of poverty, abandonment, and secrets—and abiding love and care. The soundscape of early rap music helps bring the ’80s to life and amplifies Vanessa’s concerns about racism, friendship, family, and her future. Readers of all ages and backgrounds will cheer Vanessa on and see themselves in her story.
This debut is a treasure: a gift to every middle school girl who ever felt unpretty, unloved, and trapped by her circumstances. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-777-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A promising debut.
The horrors of the Guatemalan civil war are filtered through the eyes of a boy coming of age.
Set in Chopán in 1981, this verse novel follows the life of Carlos, old enough to feed the chickens but not old enough to wring their necks as the story opens. Carlos’ family and other villagers are introduced in early poems, including Santiago Luc who remembers “a time when there were no soldiers / driving up in jeeps, holding / meetings, making / laws, scattering / bullets into the trees, / hunting guerillas.” On an errand for his mother when soldiers attack, Carlos makes a series of decisions that ultimately save his life but leave him doubting his manliness and bravery. An epilogue of sorts helps tie the main narrative to the present, and the book ends on a hopeful note. In her debut, Brown has chosen an excellent form for exploring the violence and loss of war, but at times, stylistic decisions (most notably attempts at concrete poetry) appear to trump content. While some of the individual poems may be difficult for readers to follow and the frequent references to traditional masculinity may strike some as patriarchal, the use of Spanish is thoughtful, as are references to local flora and fauna. The overall effect is a moving introduction to a subject seldom covered in fiction for youth.
A promising debut. (glossary, author Q&A) (Verse/historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6516-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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