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Daniella, Cassi’s older sister, has started high school and gone from being her best friend to a sullen and withdrawn stranger around the house.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
A memorable, edge-of-the-seat escapade that will enthrall confirmed fans and newbies alike.
The penultimate episode in this well-crafted series pits apprentice wizard Septimus and allies against a relentless tide of Things bent on overwhelming the Magyk that protects the town of Castle and establishing a penumbral Darke Domaine.
Their 14th birthdays become more battles for survival than celebrations for Sep and Princess Jenna when she is captured by the powerful Port Witch Coven. His planned visit to the deadly subterranean Darke Halls takes on special urgency after the Darke finds an opening in the palace and begins pouring out in a deadly tide through the streets. As usual, not only is the cast, particularly the large and tumultuous Heap family, sharply drawn both in the tale and in Zug’s finely detailed character studies at the chapter heads, but the danger and the spellcasting alike seem vividly real and credible. Lightening the load with humorous byplay and tucking in plenty of ghosts, strong-willed characters, deft literary references—a character named Bertie Bott, a house on There And Back Again Row—and a particularly exciting dragon battle, Sage expertly weaves multiple new and continuing plotlines together. An appendix ties up what loose ends it can while leaving the door open for the conclusion.
A memorable, edge-of-the-seat escapade that will enthrall confirmed fans and newbies alike. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-124242-7
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Good, old-fashioned, outer-space pirate fun.
In this episode, teenage hotshot Tycho Hashoone and his privateering clan are swept up in both interplanetary politics and a scramble for hidden treasure.
In pursuing clues leading to possibly cursed riches carried by the long-lost Iris, Tycho uncovers disturbing hints of evil deeds committed by his piratical ancestors. Meanwhile, he continues to compete with his hotheaded twin sister, Yana, and stodgy but brilliant older brother, Carlo, to succeed their mother as captain of the Hashoone family ship. Opportunities for derring-do arise when the Shadow Comet is ordered to join a poorly led Jovian Union fleet setting out to quash a rebellion around Saturn. Mixing futuristic elements like cyborgs and artificial intelligence with grog, bilge, and a cast of “vaguely reformed pirates” armed with blaster cannon and chrome musketoons, Fry concocts a whirl of space battles, sleuthing, spycraft, domestic spats, and ventures into dangerous locales from seedy Port Town slums to Callisto’s deep, unexplored oceans. Fans of series opener Hunt for the Hydra (2013) will rejoice at the return (and thorough comeuppance) of blustering, wonderfully named archnemesis pirate Thoadbone Mox.
Good, old-fashioned, outer-space pirate fun. (charts, ship plans, nautical glossary) (Science fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Dec. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-223023-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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