by Barbara Dee ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 20, 2016
Entertaining bibliotherapy but also a useful road map to resolution of the age-old problem of severe cattiness.
It’s hard to watch white seventh-grader Lia, rebounding from her mother’s death two years ago, engineer her own slow-motion train wreck.
Like her peers, Lia spends ample time with her friends, but her circle is dominated by Abi, who enjoys humiliating them. Jules is Abi’s personal flunky, never trying to fight back. Athletic Mak has the wherewithal to find other friends but takes the path of least resistance (and as biracial Korean/African-American, she’s the only one identified as a person of color). Marley lives on the edge of the group, glued to them through Lia, who hasn’t thought too hard about her dysfunctional pals. Although all but Marley plan to attend summer camp, at the last moment Lia, embarrassed by her mortifying lack of progress toward puberty, backs out and goes to visit her mother’s oddball sister, Shelby, in Maine. When she returns, the campers have bonded through a demeaning game, “Truth or Dare.” Lia chooses truth, then lies repeatedly about her summer experiences. Plagued by Abi’s bullying, the group begins to splinter apart. Aunt Shelby intervenes, with unexpected results. Although the characters are archetypal, they’re well enough rounded to add excruciating reality and believably illustrate one of the many forms of bullying. Lia’s problems ring fully true, and her eventually learned life lessons are timeless.
Entertaining bibliotherapy but also a useful road map to resolution of the age-old problem of severe cattiness. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5968-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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by Tae Keller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 28, 2020
Longing—for connection, for family, for a voice—roars to life with just a touch of magic.
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A young girl bargaining for the health of her grandmother discovers both her family’s past and the strength of her own voice.
For many years, Lily’s Korean grandmother, Halmoni, has shared her Asian wisdom and healing powers with her predominantly White community. When Lily, her sister, Sam—both biracial, Korean and White—and their widowed mom move in with Halmoni to be close with her as she ages, Lily begins to see a magical tiger. What were previously bedtime stories become dangerously prophetic, as Lily begins to piece together fact from fiction. There is no need for prior knowledge of Korean folktales, although a traditional Korean myth propels the story forward. From the tiger, Lily learns that Halmoni has bottled up the hard stories of her past to keep sadness at bay. Lily makes a deal with the tiger to heal her grandmother by releasing those stories. What she comes to realize is that healing doesn’t mean health and that Halmoni is not the only one in need of the power of storytelling. Interesting supporting characters are fully developed but used sparingly to keep the focus on the simple yet suspenseful plot. Keller infuses this tale, which explores both the end of life and coming-of-age, with a sensitive examination of immigration issues and the complexity of home. It is at one and the same time completely American and thoroughly informed by Korean culture.
Longing—for connection, for family, for a voice—roars to life with just a touch of magic. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1570-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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by Tae Keller ; illustrated by Geraldine Rodríguez
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by Crystal Allen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 22, 2011
This stands out for its unusual setting and smooth integration of friendship and family concerns. (Fiction. 10-14)
Sucked into "business" with a crooked classmate, bowling fanatic Lamar Washington makes good money faking his skills, but when a disruptive prank reveals his new friend Billy’s duplicity, he realizes how wrong it was to aim to be “the smoothest baddest dude” in Coffin, Ind.
This refreshing first novel is told in the first person with plenty of snappy dialogue by a smart African-American middle-schooler whose asthma has kept him out of the usual sports and whose older brother, a basketball star, consistently taunts him. Lamar’s new friendship threatens both a longstanding one and a promising new relationship with a girl. Tension mounts as Lamar is drawn further into an unsavory gambling world, realizing that his cheating is wrong but thrilled to have the cash to buy a Bubba Sanders bowling ball. A final, seriously physical fight with his brother leads to climactic arrests. The drab rigidity of Camp Turnaround, where Billy is incarcerated, contrasts with the excitement of the bowling alley Lamar loves. His grounding and community service seem appropriate. His understanding of the consequences of his prank fire alarm, both for his brother and for his basketball-mad small town, comes slowly and realistically, and the solution of his family issues is satisfying.
This stands out for its unusual setting and smooth integration of friendship and family concerns. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-199272-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
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