An intriguing story with broad appeal.
Fourteen-year-old Harbour Mandrayke, a home-schooled teen from Florida, spends the summer waiting in Toronto for her father to arrive on his sailboat.
Harbour, whose Canadian mother is deceased, and her trusty furry companion, Tuff Stuff, live by their wits, camping in a ravine. She’s armed with her dad’s quirky summer reading list and the resources of the local library. However, Harbour’s father is weeks late from his scheduled arrival date, and her credit card has been declined. Deeply in denial, Harbour meets Lise Roberts, a street-wise 16-year-old with locs, eyebrow rings, and a beautiful smile, who knows how to navigate the Toronto streets and shelters. Lise’s expertise comes in handy as winter approaches and Harbour’s damp, cold tent makes daily life nearly impossible. Harbour’s study of philosophical greats like Paramahansa Yogananda helps her learn to read people and build the patience and resolve to endure the harshest winter she’s ever experienced while dependent on the whims of strangers. Trust issues and dark family secrets threaten to shake Harbour and Lise’s budding friendship in this gritty, highly engaging, realistic mystery that captures the harsh realities of homeless teens in crisis. This plot-driven novel with well-drawn characters will pull readers into a devastating tale of intrigue and redemption. Fans of Homecoming by Cynthia Voight (1981) and Roam by C.H. Armstrong (2019) will appreciate this book. Characters are assumed white.
An intriguing story with broad appeal. (Mystery. 12-16)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4597-4518-6
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Dundurn
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
A fizzy and warmhearted take on teen stardom, but readers will have to work hard to suspend their disbelief.
The uneven follow-up to Charly's Epic Fiascos (2012) shows determined and headstrong Charly trying to balance her newfound star status with her roots and responsibilities.
Having escaped her Chicago-area hometown, Charly is living with her father in New York and auditioning for acting roles. Despite tactics readers will recognize as unprofessional (crashing a sitcom audition, Shih Tzu in hand, and improvising lines), Charly is invited to be part of The Extreme Dream Team, a reality show in which she and three other stars give “life makeovers” to deserving teens. The show takes Charly on a set of trips around the country, and there is plenty of boy drama as well as tension with a female co-star who may or may not have Charly's best interests in mind. Charly is still connected to her friends and sister from home, and some of the book's most poignant moments come as she tries to help her younger sister in the wake of their mother's neglect. Some of Charly's adventures, however, are a bit too predictable, and a conclusion in which one character's underhandedness is revealed feels abrupt and unconvincing.
A fizzy and warmhearted take on teen stardom, but readers will have to work hard to suspend their disbelief. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7582-8697-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dafina/Kensington
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
This first-person tale gently illustrates change, both good and bad.
In the Newfoundland fishing village of Parsons Bay, Kitty has her refuges all staked out, for when she needs to hide from her father’s nearly incessant drunken belligerence.
Neighbor Ms. Bartlett and her Nan live nearby, and there is a cliff where she frequently meets her best friend, Anne-Marie, for solace. But it’s 1992, and the cod fishery is subject to a moratorium, leaving her father suddenly without work. Hoping to find work, the family moves to live with Uncle Iggy in St. John’s. The bigger city and foreign environment require that Kitty find new friends and new ways to cope. Her uncle, an elderly neighbor who favors forgiveness, and, above all, an attractive boy support Kitty and yet present her with challenges. Required to look past first glances and see the heart beneath in this new environment, Kitty in the process begins to look past her father’s drunken exterior as well. Learning and accepting a bit of the why her father is incapable of facing life sober helps. Admitting that she knows that he loves her even if he can’t seem to show it makes life endurable. Kitty’s initial belligerence and anger, so predominant early on, modulates to a more nuanced point of view; given her growth, it’s a shame the mother remains a nonentity.
This first-person tale gently illustrates change, both good and bad. (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4598-0274-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013
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