Readers willing to go with the flow can look forward to the sequel
In a blasted, post-apocalyptic future, only three life-forms remain: humans, omnivorous locusts and the bioengineered corn that has become the sole source of food and fuel to civilization’s remnants.
Banyan, 17, makes his living as his dead father did, by fabricating trees from scrap metal. A wealthy landowner commissions him to build a forest, providing as a template a beautiful, yellow-leaved tree tattooed over the torso of his wife. Stranger still, the woman’s daughter shows him a recent photograph of a man—his father!—chained to a living tree. In short order, Banyan and a motley crew—his client’s son and a charismatic pirate girl, joined at various points by the wife, her daughter and the landowner’s Rasta bodyguard—are racing the landowner to the trees. They just have to get past GenTech’s massive cornfields and the locusts that live in them. Howard has a gift for the phantasmagoric image: the killing Surge that is this future’s ocean, the bark Banyan finds growing on a homeless man, the swarm of locusts descending for the kill and more. But he takes huge narrative leaps and skimps on worldbuilding, neglecting to explore this GenTech-controlled economy or where oxygen now comes from. It’s a refreshingly male-oriented world, though, despite the abrupt attraction between Banyan and the pirate that feels chucked in to provide the now-requisite romantic element.
Readers willing to go with the flow can look forward to the sequel . (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-38789-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
An aching story of love, loss, and learning to look forward.
This companion to 2021’s bestselling You’ve Reached Sam explores first love, grief, and what remains after saying goodbye.
Nearly a year after the death of Sam, his best friend and secret crush, Oliver, a gay first-year college student, sends Sam one final text—only to receive a reply from the stranger who now has Sam’s old number. What begins as an accidental exchange evolves into a warm and unexpected connection, told in self-reflective first-person prose interspersed with text conversations. The prose blends dreamy flashbacks with present-day scenes showing Oliver’s loneliness, juxtaposing vivid memories of love unspoken with the tentative beginning of something new. The scenes move fluidly across time, showing prom, Halloween, a spring bonfire, and quiet cafe moments, all of which underscore the intensity of Oliver’s love and longing, while his banter-filled messages and blossoming rapport with the stranger he’s texting with offer glimmers of healing. His grief is messy and nonlinear, and the story doesn’t rush his recovery. Thao’s writing is intimate and vulnerable, balancing humor and heartbreak with emotional honesty. Touchstones like white roses, playlists, and quiet nights on campus recur throughout, grounding Oliver’s journey in sensory detail. This poignant story offers a nuanced depiction of grieving and embracing romantic possibilities. In the earlier book, Oliver presented white, and Sam was cued Japanese American.
An aching story of love, loss, and learning to look forward. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780593858479
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A winning game of feelingsball.
A former football star, who never thought she’d play again after she came out as transgender, steps back onto the field for one last season to help her team win state.
Grace Woodhouse used to know where she belonged. She had Division I schools lined up to recruit her, but that was before what happened during playoffs last year, before she came out as trans, and before she quit the team. Although her single father and new friend group support her, Grace feels lost as her senior year begins. When one of her old teammates asks her to help him with his technique, she quickly realizes that he and the other captains are hoping for more than her expertise from the sidelines—they want her to rejoin the team. Grace can’t resist the opportunity to play again, but her return draws unwanted national attention that makes her question her future and who she wants to be. Flashback chapters written in the second-person present tense bring Grace’s past to life, which helps maintain momentum and makes her emotional journey feel more immersive. A heartfelt, goofy, and diverse cast of secondary characters surround Grace, who’s white, as she navigates self-doubt, friendship, complicated feelings for her ex-girlfriend, and what she wants to do after graduation. Overall, this coming-of-age sports narrative is honest, gentle, and hopeful.
A winning game of feelingsball. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781646145027
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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