Relatable characters ground a story that’s suspenseful, funny, and heartwarming.
Gartner’s middle-grade space adventure follows a boy’s space-travel adventure as it takes a dangerous turn.
“I’m pretty sure I’m about to die in space. And I just turned twelve and a half.” From this heart-pounding opening, readers are launched on a journey into the near future with Fin Scott, a tween with astronomical potential. Readers soon learn that Fin’s life changed when he received what he calls the “Package of Destiny”: His invention has won him the chance to train at NASA’s Houston facilities, board the Aether spacecraft to visit the International Space Station, and take a three-day trip to an outpost orbiting the moon. With his mom in the hospital and his dad spending most of his time with her, Fin wants nothing more than to get away; his uncle Dennis agrees to act as his guardian in space. At NASA headquarters, Fin meets his fellow contest winners—Mae Jorgenson, David Kalkutten, and Kal Agarwal—as well as the Aether’s commander, Marc Horowitz, and glowering “paper pusher” Mr. Deuce, who seems determined to shut the space program down. Together, the kids must train hard to prepare for their upcoming mission, but as problems begin to mount, it starts to appear that there may be a saboteur among them. Things get worse when the group launches into space, where multiple disasters strike. Over the course of this book, Gartner delivers a story in which naturalistic dialogue flows effortlessly, which has the effect of capturing the kids’ simultaneous joy and trepidation at being surrounded by adults who take them (mostly) seriously. At one point, for example, Fin tells Mae, “For what it’s worth, you are the best fourteen-year-old pilot I know.” She responds, “Yeah, I’m pretty great,” although Fin “can tell it’s with a hint of teasing herself.” Overall, it’s a well-paced tale that will remind young readers of the truly breathtaking wonders of space travel.
Relatable characters ground a story that’s suspenseful, funny, and heartwarming.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781734155297
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crescent Vista Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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