May reassure readers with aging relatives facing Alzheimer’s.
A grandmother and granddaughter’s shared escapade bares unhappy truths.
Brainy, white, bespectacled Cricket Cohen, a Manhattan sixth-grader, thinks deep scientific thoughts. Her philanthropist parents don’t get her, nor she them. This isn’t Cricket’s only problem. While she revels in cosmic truths, she bends facts about her own life a lot. This alienates would-be friends and requires her to rewrite a mostly fabricated memoir. The person who appreciates Cricket most and to whom she doesn’t lie is her maternal grandmother, Dodo, a mischievous free spirit. Now living down the hall and attended by a paid helper, Dodo longs for independence and adventure. The opportunity arises when Cricket’s parents go out of town, leaving her with Dodo. The two take off, booking a posh Manhattan hotel room and dining and shopping in a pricey department store. Dramatic evidence of Dodo’s precarious mental state comes to the fore when store security holds her for shoplifting and alert the police, who take her and Cricket into protective custody. Alzheimer’s disease is gently explained, and the family concedes that help is needed. While Cricket and Dodo are sympathetic and well-portrayed, Cricket’s parents are stereotypes. Mrs. Cohen’s a self-absorbed, pushy workaholic; Mr. Cohen’s wishy-washy. The breezy, wink-wink depictions of NYC ethos become tiresome, though out-of-towners may appreciate some of the landmark references. The ending, Cricket’s poignant rewritten memoir, is realistic but hopeful.
May reassure readers with aging relatives facing Alzheimer’s. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-30041-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
The Baudelaire children—Violet, 14, Klaus, 12, and baby Sunny—are exceedingly ill-fated; Snicket extracts both humor and horror from their situation, as he gleefully puts them through one terrible ordeal after another. After receiving the news that their parents died in a fire, the three hapless orphans are delivered into the care of Count Olaf, who “is either a third cousin four times removed, or a fourth cousin three times removed.” The villainous Count Olaf is morally depraved and generally mean, and only takes in the downtrodden yet valiant children so that he can figure out a way to separate them from their considerable inheritance. The youngsters are able to escape his clutches at the end, but since this is the first installment in A Series of Unfortunate Events, there will be more ghastly doings. Written with old-fashioned flair, this fast-paced book is not for the squeamish: the Baudelaire children are truly sympathetic characters who encounter a multitude of distressing situations. Those who enjoy a little poison in their porridge will find it wicked good fun. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-440766-7
Page Count: 162
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
An eminently satisfying story of family, recovery, and growing into manhood.
In this prequel to Newbery Award–winning The Crossover (2014), Alexander revisits previous themes and formats while exploring new ones.
For Charlie Bell, the future father of The Crossover’s Jordan and Josh, his father’s death alters his relationship with his mother and causes him to avoid what reminds him of his dad. At first, he’s just withdrawn, but after he steals from a neighbor, his mother packs a reluctant Charlie off to his grandparents near Washington, D.C., for the summer. His grandfather works part-time at a Boys and Girls Club where his cousin Roxie is a star basketball player. Despite his protests, she draws him into the game. His time with his grandparents deepens Charlie’s understanding of his father, and he begins to heal. “I feel / a little more normal, / like maybe he’s still here, / … in a / as long as I remember him / he’s still right here / in my heart / kind of way.” Once again, Alexander has given readers an African-American protagonist to cheer. He is surrounded by a strong supporting cast, especially two brilliant female characters, his friend CJ and his cousin Roxie, as well as his feisty and wise granddaddy. Music and cultural references from the late 1980s add authenticity. The novel in verse is enhanced by Anyabwile’s art, which reinforces Charlie’s love for comics.
An eminently satisfying story of family, recovery, and growing into manhood. (Historical verse fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-86813-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
SEEN & HEARD
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