by Chris Lynch ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30, 1996
The prospect of a blissful senior year darkens for a teenager when he's swept into the local political arena. With best bud Mosi, a one-man garage band, and Sweaty Betty, ``the most excellent girl since the beginning of girls,'' by his side, it looks like smooth sailing for Gordie—especially after Fins Foley, his ex-mayor grandpa, currently serving five-to-fifteen for racketeering, loans him a pristine 1963 Studebaker Gran Tourismo convertible. There's a price for those wheels: As a ploy to scare Fins's chosen successor back into line, Gordie enters the primary mayoral election. Hilarious complications ensue, as Gordie unwisely joins sleazy radio talk-jock Mad Matt Baker on the air, runs for senior class president, and sees his every ill-considered utterance instantly leaked to a rabid press. Beneath the belly-laughs and blipped one-liners, Lynch goes easy on his cast: The caricatures are relatively gentle; Gordie's friends may not be mental giants, but they are caring; and Gordie doesn't fumble the important passes. The mood becomes more earnest toward the end, as Gordie realizes that the campaign was just a way of easing Fins into retirement. The satire has a nip, but it's not as savage as Lynch's Blue-Eyed Son trilogy (Mick, 1996, etc.). (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1996
ISBN: 0-06-027360-7
Page Count: 168
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1996
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by Patricia McCormick ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2012
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers...
A harrowing tale of survival in the Killing Fields.
The childhood of Arn Chorn-Pond has been captured for young readers before, in Michelle Lord and Shino Arihara's picture book, A Song for Cambodia (2008). McCormick, known for issue-oriented realism, offers a fictionalized retelling of Chorn-Pond's youth for older readers. McCormick's version begins when the Khmer Rouge marches into 11-year-old Arn's Cambodian neighborhood and forces everyone into the country. Arn doesn't understand what the Khmer Rouge stands for; he only knows that over the next several years he and the other children shrink away on a handful of rice a day, while the corpses of adults pile ever higher in the mango grove. Arn does what he must to survive—and, wherever possible, to protect a small pocket of children and adults around him. Arn's chilling history pulls no punches, trusting its readers to cope with the reality of children forced to participate in murder, torture, sexual exploitation and genocide. This gut-wrenching tale is marred only by the author's choice to use broken English for both dialogue and description. Chorn-Pond, in real life, has spoken eloquently (and fluently) on the influence he's gained by learning English; this prose diminishes both his struggle and his story.
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers will seek out the history themselves. (preface, author's note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-173093-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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by Patricia McCormick ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
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by Laura Resau ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2006
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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