An engrossing, suspenseful, and thought-provoking adventure.
Two friends embark on an emotional and physical challenge.
Rose and Tate have been lifelong friends, traveling the world and summiting mountains together. Now, at the end of their senior year of high school, they’re going for the big one—Mount Everest. But Rose feels conflicted about climbing without her mother, and Tate has a terrifying secret. Their journey from San Francisco to the highest altitude in the world tests their physical and mental strength and endurance. The isolation and harsh conditions force the pair to examine their feelings for one another as well as their motivations for climbing and the impact of the tourist trade on the environment, culture, and people of Nepal. Each chapter begins with the date, altitude, and location, helpfully setting the scene for a narrative that alternates between Tate and Rose, with some chapters acting as flashbacks. Setting and character details abound, deftly balanced with Tate and Rose’s emotionally engaging relationship. This combination allows readers to feel the dangers of climbing, the anticipation of trying for the summit, and the firecracker chemistry between the leads. A map provides context, and an author’s note offers insight into the multiple meanings of sherpa/Sherpa, further reading, and organizations that support Nepalese people, specifically Sherpa families affected by accidents on Everest. Rose is biracial (with a White dad and Puerto Rican mom); Tate is White and has ADHD.
An engrossing, suspenseful, and thought-provoking adventure. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62354-140-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Charlesbridge Teen
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)
In the three years following Eden’s brutal rape by her brother’s best friend, Kevin, she descends into anger, isolation, and promiscuity.
Eden’s silence about the assault is cemented by both Kevin’s confident assurance that if she tells anyone, “No one will ever believe you. You know that. No one. Not ever,” and a chillingly believable death threat. For the remainder of Eden’s freshman year, she withdraws from her family and becomes increasingly full of hatred for Kevin and the world she feels failed to protect her. But when a friend mentions that she’s “reinventing” herself, Eden embarks on a hopeful plan to do the same. She begins her sophomore year with new clothes and friendly smiles for her fellow students, which attract the romantic attentions of a kind senior athlete. But, bizarrely, Kevin’s younger sister goes on a smear campaign to label Eden a “totally slutty disgusting whore,” which sends Eden back toward self-destruction. Eden narrates in a tightly focused present tense how she withdraws again from nearly everyone and attempts to find comfort (or at least oblivion) through a series of nearly anonymous sexual encounters. This self-centeredness makes her relationships with other characters feel underdeveloped and even puzzling at times. Absent ethnic and cultural markers, Eden and her family and classmates are likely default white.
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4935-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues...
He’s in remission from the osteosarcoma that took one of his legs. She’s fighting the brown fluid in her lungs caused by tumors. Both know that their time is limited.
Sparks fly when Hazel Grace Lancaster spies Augustus “Gus” Waters checking her out across the room in a group-therapy session for teens living with cancer. He’s a gorgeous, confident, intelligent amputee who always loses video games because he tries to save everyone. She’s smart, snarky and 16; she goes to community college and jokingly calls Peter Van Houten, the author of her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, her only friend besides her parents. He asks her over, and they swap novels. He agrees to read the Van Houten and she agrees to read his—based on his favorite bloodbath-filled video game. The two become connected at the hip, and what follows is a smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance. From their trip to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive Van Houten to their hilariously flirty repartee, readers will swoon on nearly every page. Green’s signature style shines: His carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire. He takes on Big Questions that might feel heavy-handed in the words of any other author: What do oblivion and living mean? Then he deftly parries them with humor: “My nostalgia is so extreme that I am capable of missing a swing my butt never actually touched.” Dog-earing of pages will no doubt ensue.
Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues to make it through Hazel and Gus’ poignant journey. (Fiction. 15 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-525-47881-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
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