Trudy’s persistence after initial failure will resonate even with middle graders who’ve never heard of the Fab Four.
“All I had was an invalid mother, three oddball friends, a father who didn’t know I was alive anymore, and a sliver of hope that meeting Paul McCartney could change all that.”
By the time Trudy makes this statement, readers know that she tends to overdramatize her life but also that she is determined to meet Paul McCartney. She is a sixth-grader who explains that she felt exhilarated when, in 1964, she began her elementary school’s Beatles Fan Club, which, by September of junior high, sported 23 members. Now, after April vacation, 1966, everything has changed: Her best friend is hanging out with cheerleaders; she is suddenly being teased about her full name, Gertrude; and her fan club has been reduced to herself, awkward Peter, uncool Jessica, and unkempt Nora. The good news: The Beatles will perform in August in Boston, just 50 miles from Trudy’s Rhode Island home. The text is laden with references to 1960s history, fashion, and popular culture—although air-raid drills go unmentioned. In a nice, perspective-lending touch, elevator music and disposable diapers are predicted for the future. All characters are default white. Trudy’s voice and her relationships with parents and peers ring true to an adolescent slowly making sense of her life and the people in it. Her perseverance, cleverness, and sense of humor will keep readers turning the pages to see if she does meet her favorite Beatle.
Trudy’s persistence after initial failure will resonate even with middle graders who’ve never heard of the Fab Four. (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-8511-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
A deceptively simple, tender tale in which respect, resilience, and hope triumph.
Generations of human and animal families grow and change, seen from the point of view of the red oak Wishing Tree that shelters them all.
Most trees are introverts at heart. So says Red, who is over 200 years old and should know. Not to mention that they have complicated relationships with humans. But this tree also has perspective on its animal friends and people who live within its purview—not just witnessing, but ultimately telling the tales of young people coming to this country alone or with family. An Irish woman named Maeve is the first, and a young 10-year-old Muslim girl named Samar is the most recent. Red becomes the repository for generations of wishes; this includes both observing Samar’s longing wish and sporting the hurtful word that another young person carves into their bark as a protest to Samar’s family’s presence. (Red is monoecious, they explain, with both male and female flowers.) Newbery medalist Applegate succeeds at interweaving an immigrant story with an animated natural world and having it all make sense. As Red observes, animals compete for resources just as humans do, and nature is not always pretty or fair or kind. This swiftly moving yet contemplative read is great for early middle grade, reluctant or tentative readers, or precocious younger students.
A deceptively simple, tender tale in which respect, resilience, and hope triumph. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-04322-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Elegiac and hopeful.
In the wake of his brother’s death, a black boy struggles with grief and coming out.
When Kingston’s white friend Sandy came out to him a few months ago, Kingston’s older brother, Khalid, told him to stay away from Sandy because King wouldn’t want people to think he was gay too. And then Khalid died. Their mom wants him to see someone, but King refuses because he knows he has nothing to say except that he is sad. Although his dad says boys don’t cry, King can’t stop the tears from coming every time he thinks of Khalid. But King knows that his brother is not really gone: Khalid “shed his skin like a snake” and is now a dragonfly. Complicating King’s grief over the sudden loss of his brother is the fear that Khalid would not still love him if he knew the truth—King is gay. Every day after school King walks to the bayou searching for Khalid, wondering if he can ever share who he is. When Sandy goes missing, King must come to terms with the true cost of shame. The tale is set in Louisiana, and Callender’s vivid descriptions of the rural area King calls home are magical; readers will feel the heat and the sweat, see the trees and the moss. This quiet novel movingly addresses toxic masculinity, homophobia in the black community—especially related to men—fear, and memory.
Elegiac and hopeful. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-12933-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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