A first novel from Australia pits two unlikely friends against a battle-ax disciplinarian of a teacher. Calma Harrison is a bright student with a less than stellar attitude and Jaryd “Kiffo” Kiffing is a dismal student from the wrong side of the tracks with an infinitely worse attitude. When Kiffo meets his match in Miss Payne, a feud ensues. Calma and Kiffo go way back, so Calma insists on helping Kiffo stake out Miss Payne’s house in the hopes of discovering evidence to confirm the theory that she is a drug dealer. The drug theme plays out on two levels; one told in short flashbacks that also reveal the origins of Calma’s tight relationship with Kiffo. Calma’s narrative voice is wittily sarcastic, clever and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. This does not prepare the reader for the stunning dénouement that abruptly changes the voice as well as the point of the story. Still, this is a great read and definitely an author to watch. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: June 14, 2005
ISBN: 0-375-83240-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Like a meringue—sweet and decorative but doesn’t really satisfy.
A grieving young woman sets out on a quest to meet her favorite reclusive fantasy writer.
As a joint high school graduation gift from Jenna’s parents, narrator Amelia and her best friend, Jenna, fly from their home in Texas to a California book festival so they can meet the reclusive author of the Orman Chronicles books. They leave disappointed, however, when young author N.E. Endsley—only 19—fails to appear. Less than a week later, Jenna dies while studying abroad in Ireland, a last fight between the girls left unresolved. Shortly thereafter, Amelia receives a mysterious limited edition of one of the Orman books, sent from a bookstore in Michigan. Jenna’s parents, who have the financial means and have been treating Amelia for years, pay for her to go investigate; in a somewhat fairy-tale setting on Lake Michigan she meets and befriends Nolan Endsley, who’s grieving losses of his own. Schumacher’s debut meanders through vague fantasylike settings—a fort on the sand dunes, a mysterious room inside the bookstore—and a sort of half-felt emotional landscape of its characters. Nothing’s really at risk for Amelia—at every turn, obstacles are smoothed from her path. Some of her relationships, especially with her parents, who mostly stay off-camera, are shown instead of felt. The timeline of Nolan’s own tragedies and wild successes seems oddly compressed. Main characters are White.
Like a meringue—sweet and decorative but doesn’t really satisfy. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-25302-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In the end, it’s just another violent dystopian series opener for all its yellow-brick veneer, but it’s a whole lot more fun...
When a cyclone deposits a 21st-century Kansas teen in Oz, she and readers discover there’ve been some changes made.
Dirt-poor “Salvation Amy” Gumm lives in a trailer park, effectively parenting her alcoholic mom (her dad ran off years ago), who seems to care more about her pet rat, Star, than her daughter. That doesn’t mean Amy is eager to be in Oz, particularly this Oz. Tyrannized by a megalomaniacal Dorothy and mined of its magic, it’s a dystopian distortion of the paradise Baum and MGM depicted. In short order, Amy breaks the wholly capricious laws and is thrown into a cell in the Emerald City with only Star for company. There, she’s visited first by the mysterious but sympathetic Pete and then by the witch Mombi, who breaks her out and takes her to the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked (among whom is the very hot Nox). Amy may well be the salvation of Oz—only someone from the Other Place can take Dorothy down. Paige has clearly had the time of her life with this reboot, taking a dystopian-romance template and laying it over Oz. Readers of Baum’s books will take special delight in seeing new twists on the old characters, and they will greet the surprise climactic turnabout with the smugness of insiders.
In the end, it’s just another violent dystopian series opener for all its yellow-brick veneer, but it’s a whole lot more fun than many of its ilk. (Dystopian fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-228067-1
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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