This story’s as sweet as Della’s daddy’s watermelons but never saccharine.
Della painfully learns she can’t fix her schizophrenic mother, but maybe the 12-year-old can heal herself.
It’s bad enough that her daddy’s watermelons, the sweetest in all of North Carolina, are in jeopardy because of disease and drought, now Della’s mama is acting “crazy” again, hearing voices that warn her to keep germs away from Della and her baby sister, Mylie. The preteen knows that her mother’s schizophrenia surfaced when she was born and blames herself for her mother’s condition. Della’s also heard stories, passed down through her small town, about the miraculous powers of the honey from Miss Tabitha‘s backyard hives. Della makes it her mission to cure her mama and is certain Miss Tabitha’s honey will do the trick. Her first-person narration is realistically earthy without crossing into gritty. The math-loving girl witnesses some of her mother’s breakdowns and assumes most of Mylie’s care, but she’s still very much a child, not yet ready for the boys and kissing she hears come with seventh grade. As her mother’s health fades, Della finds she has other strong women in her life, including Miss Lorena, who’s experienced her own tragic loss. As Della accepts that her mother will always be sick (though never “crazy” anymore, and the text makes the term’s harmfulness quite clear throughout), Miss Tabitha’s honey does work, giving this spunky girl the resilience to overcome hardship. This debut novel gushes with Southern charm and depicts a warm, compassionate community where white families like Della’s and Miss Tabitha’s live amicably alongside black families like Miss Lorena’s.
This story’s as sweet as Della’s daddy’s watermelons but never saccharine. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-266586-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quirky sci-fi adventure with a surprising layer of political irony.
Who knew the survival of the human race would depend on fitting in at school?
With Earth destroyed, humans have successfully petitioned Planet Choom to take them in as refugees. Narrator Lan Mifune and their family (Lan is never gendered in the text) travel there, arriving to a surprise. During the 20-year journey in bio-suspension asleep, Choom’s government has changed, along with their acceptance of humans, and they are asked to leave immediately. With no other alternative, Lan’s mom, Amora Persaud, who’s on the ship’s Governing Council, is able to negotiate a trial run, in which the Mifune family will prove humans can peacefully assimilate. Being the new kid at school is tough anywhere, but on Choom, Lan must navigate the cultures of the werewolflike Kriks; Ororos, who resemble giant marshmallows; and the Zhuri, who resemble giant mosquitoes and express emotions by secreting specific scents. Things get complicated when the Zhuri government executes a smear campaign against humans even as some privately believe humans can be peaceful if given the chance. It’s up to Lan and their family to prove humans can contribute to society. Rodkey deftly mirrors recent debates about refugees and immigrants, twisting them into a black comedy–sci-fi mashup. Racial and ethnic diversity is purposely shown solely through names, hinting via surname that Lan’s family shares mixed Japanese and Indian heritage. The abrupt resolution might leave some in disbelief, but that’s a small price to pay.
A quirky sci-fi adventure with a surprising layer of political irony. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7304-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
BOOK TO SCREEN
A warm testament to the healing power of mutual respect—and doughnuts.
Trust and doughnuts get two longtime besties over a deep rift in the wake of a traumatic accident.
Dani lives and breathes baseball—but after achieving the ultimate triumph of making it onto an otherwise all-boy middle school team, a camper explosion leaves her with a broken leg, a concussion, and serious nerve damage. Her best friend, Eric, dragged her to safety, but he is tortured by guilt because, having a famously unreliable memory, he wonders if he forgot to turn the stove off. Was this disaster on their annual camping trip all his fault? Swartz skillfully tracks several emotional arcs in her two sixth graders through their alternating voices as Eric’s eventual agonized confession creates a break that drives both well-realized protagonists to fasten onto (and be disappointed by) new friends before realizing their mistake and seeking to mend fences. Eric turns out to be better at this than his tough-minded but inarticulate friend. His MO involves talks with God and bringing doughnuts to social encounters. Dani, her all-consuming determination to heal fast enough to rejoin the team that season only partially dimmed by setbacks, has guilt of her own to overcome for failing to meet him halfway. Sensitive readers will understand what neurodivergent Eric means when he declares “I see stuff differently” as a superpower. The cast reads white; Eric is cued Jewish.
A warm testament to the healing power of mutual respect—and doughnuts. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780593483664
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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