A sensitive story of family, friendship, and personal growth.
Seventh grade has brought many changes in the life of 12-year-old Cassi, and she must figure out how to be herself through them all.
Daniella, Cassi’s older sister, has started high school and gone from being her best friend to a sullen and withdrawn stranger around the house. Her beloved Buelo has dementia and must now reside in a nursing home. Cassi has also become aware—and bothered by the realization—that though she feels very much connected to her Puerto Rican background on her mother’s side, others do not readily recognize the white, red-headed girl’s identity as Latinx (she gets her coloring from her Irish American father). On the other hand, this year she has qualified for Math Olympics, her best and favorite activity. And she’s made a friend in Aaron, a new, white student in school and a fellow member of the Math Olympics team. It is from Aaron’s story that the book gets its title (his father is writing a memoir about living in towns named for trees). Cassi’s character is well developed, making this first-person narration the ring true, but the other characters in the story are not as fully formed. Ironically, at times it is difficult to decide if Turley’s handling of Cassi’s looks reinforces or dispels the myth that Latinx people have a specific, definable appearance. The book ends on a hopeful note that does not trivialize the hurdles this smart young character faces.
A sensitive story of family, friendship, and personal growth. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2064-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable.
Six New Jersey 12-year-olds separated by decades race to ensure the “good guys” win World War II in this middle-grade work by the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and her brother, a children's author and journalist.
It all starts with a ham radio that Alice, Lawrence, and Artie fool around with in 1944 and Henry, Frances, and Lukas find in 2023. It’s late April, and the 1944 kids worry about loved ones in combat, while the 2023 kids study the war in school. When, impossibly, the radio allows the kids to communicate across time, it doesn’t take long before they share information that changes history. Can the two sets of kids work across a 79-year divide to prevent the U.S.A. from becoming the Nazi-controlled dystopia of Westfallen? This propulsive thriller includes well-paced cuts between times that keep the pages turning. Like most people in their small New Jersey town, Alice, Artie, and Frances are white. In 1944, Lawrence, who’s Black, endures bigotry; in the U.S.A. of 2023, Henry’s biracial (white and Black) identity and Lukas’ Jewish one are unremarkable, but in Westfallen, Henry’s a “mischling” doing “work-learning,” and Lukas is a menial laborer. Alice’s and Henry’s dual first-person narration zooms in on the adventure, but readers who pull back may find themselves deeply uneasy with the summary consideration paid to the real-life fates of European Jews and disabled people. The cliffhanger ending will have them hoping for more thoughtful treatment in sequels to come.
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable. (Science fiction/thriller. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781665950817
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
A useful addition to the pool of middle-grade books about sexual harassment at school.
How did the most popular girl in school become persona non grata?
New kid and aspiring podcaster Anna Hunt could have taken the easy route for her social issues assignment about any subject that was important to her. But somehow Anna always comes back to the question, “What happened to Rachel Riley?” Does it have anything to do with the mysterious game the boys have been playing? Anna’s investigation unfolds in emails, text threads, personal narratives, articles, and voice recordings as she asks difficult questions, struggles to make friends, and questions how and if the world can change for the better. Ultimately, Anna’s un-essay explores sexual harassment between middle school peers, specifically boys giving each other points for slapping girls’ butts and snapping their bra straps. As in Barbara Dee’s Maybe He Just Likes You (2019), there’s social pressure to stay silent and laugh it all off as a joke. Given the central focus on teasing apart this issue, it’s understandable that many of the characters lack depth. Anna’s mother emigrated from Poland, and Anna is bilingual; some supporting characters have names that point to non-European heritage. With its highlighting of fun and educational facts, the writing style and subject matter make this a good fit for classroom or book club reading and discussion.
A useful addition to the pool of middle-grade books about sexual harassment at school. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-321309-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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