A kindhearted, authentic outing.
A middle school jester jockeys with real-life friendships and internet fame.
Despite seventh grader Jack Reynolds’ confident demeanor, he suffers from a paucity of pals—a crisis belying his reputation as Franklin Middle School’s resident comedian and his thousands of MyTube subscribers. When fair-weather friend Zane ditches him for a jock, Jack attends an after-school speed friendshipping session, seeking free doughnuts and fresh acquaintances. He connects with Mario, fun yet phoneless due to an uber-strict mother; Brielle, who’s pretty, smart, and motivated; and Tasha, a brainy, reserved fashionista. The first spark fizzles when Mario’s mom objects to their joint MyTube appearance. When Jack loses his smartphone privileges, a viral video he made with Brielle catches the eye of a MyTube superstar—but Jack drops the ball, leaving Brielle feeling used. Time with Tasha boosts Jack’s math grade, but a Slurpee mishap threatens this relationship, too. When Jack reunites with his phone—and Zane—he makes a final misstep, forcing him to reflect upon and adjust his approaches to humor and other people. Can he find a way to mend his fledgling friendships—or is he destined to become a sad clown? Costner’s nondidactic exploration of digital technology and social media sustains a quiet insistence that lasting connections are sweetened by humor but leavened with sincerity. The book features occasional expressive cartoon-style illustrations. Jack reads as White; there is diversity in the supporting cast.
A kindhearted, authentic outing. (Humor. 9-13)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-11870-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
A beautiful, moving mythological adventure.
In a world based on Greek mythology, a 12-year-old aspires to be a Ferryer of the dead but gets off track when she meets a Living girl who’s found her way into the Underworld.
All Senka knows is her existence on an island in the middle of the Acheron River, “smack between the realm of the Living and the realm of the Dead,” where she’s the ward of Charon, the Ferryer of souls. Her teacher is an enormous raven named Mortimer. After Senka, who presents white, learns the Rules for Ferryers, Charon agrees to her repeated requests and starts training her to become a Ferryer. But when an emergency leads to Senka’s being left alone, she disobeys Charon’s explicit orders, takes the boat out on her own—and quickly learns that ferrying souls is far more complicated than she realized. She encounters dark-haired, brown-skinned Poppy, whose “edges are crisp”—she’s a Living girl who will sacrifice anything to find Joey, her younger brother who died. As Senka tries to convince Poppy to return to the Shore of the Living, the two get stuck in the Underwild, a “lawless place where chaos reigns” that’s filled with innumerable dangers and shrouded in secrets. Senka’s lively first-person narration relates the unexpected friendship that forms through her shared adventures with Poppy as they face mortality and the unknown. Debut author Targosz offers readers a meaningful exploration of grief and its impact on those left behind.
A beautiful, moving mythological adventure. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781665957632
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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