Thoughtful, humorous, and psychologically astute.
In Dreger’s (Bad at Love, 2019, etc.) YA novel, a middle-school girl grapples with an anxiety disorder, a frenemy’s blackmail scheme, and her pastor mother’s expectations.
Thirteen-year-old Elinor “Rory” O’Leary, needs to cheerlead. Although she has a therapist and a few strategies that help her to deal with her generalized anxiety disorder, she believes that cheer routines work best at “calming my brain when it starts moving too fast.” But Rory’s mother, Britt, the pastor at Oak Bluffs Lutheran Church, wants her to prioritize her church activities, such as portraying Santa Lucia and singing a solo in an upcoming Advent service. It’s a highly stressful prospect for, but her mother says that if it’s too much to deal with, then maybe Rory should take a break from cheerleading. Later, Rory’s ex-friend Laura Robinson demands that she convince her 14-year-old brother, Mark, to ask Laura to a dance—or she’ll release embarrassing photos involving Rory, Hello Kitty underwear, and some epic puking. Rory deals with her problems, learns more about Laura’s motivations, and gets help from friends, such as Will Parker, the cheer squad’s only male member, and her therapist, Dr. Patel. Along the way, she comes to understand the importance of family and faith. Dreger appears to draw on aspects of her own life in this novel, and it shows in the realistic details—about overwhelming panic attacks, for example, and the difficulty of wearing a candle headdress. The characters ring true; Laura’s hostility is reasonably explained, and Rory’s believable voice combines humor, introspection, and the melodramatic, self-conscious emotions of an especially anxious teen. Although Rory is sometimes frustrated by her mother’s priorities, she doesn’t reject them; the teenager takes her faith seriously, and when she wonders, “How can I embrace God when it seems like he doesn’t have my back?,” many young seekers will relate. The plot is also well-structured, with Rory’s journey aligning appropriately with the weeks of Advent.
Thoughtful, humorous, and psychologically astute.Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72888-468-4
Page Count: 161
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A bit dull, but more engaging than a civics textbook.
When third-grader Bobby Barton unexpectedly becomes the first kid president of the United States, he goes a little wild.
On a field trip to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Bobby Barton stumbles upon a long-lost section of the Constitution allowing an American of any age to take over the office of president by challenging the current president to a game of checkers. Bobby wins. He then finds himself on a crash course through the American government as he becomes the country’s youngest president. When Congress won’t approve his kid-friendly bills—candy stores are to stay open 24 hours a day; movie theaters must let kids in for free—Bobby goes against the advice of his mentors and uses executive orders to put his laws into effect. He’s having a great time as president—his poll numbers for American children are surely through the roof—but he’s becoming unpopular among adults, and small business owners are hurting. As commander in chief, Bobby has some big decisions to make. The book reads a little like a “what I did on my summer vacation” essay. Characters tend to be one-dimensional, and in spite of including a girl vice president, the story is noticeably short on female characters. Betz’s impressive black-and-white, penciled illustrations have plenty of contrast and expressiveness, and young readers might appreciate the hand-drawn approach. Though the plot doesn’t have much substance, it successfully provides a civics lesson for American children, as Maguire (Professor Atlas And The Summoning Dagger, 2011) offers a kid-friendly breakdown of how American government works, complete with a basic outline of the nuts and bolts for the branches of the federal government and an easy-to-read glossary of political terms. Young readers are sure to walk away with a firm grasp of Bobby’s presidential struggles and why there’s more to running a country than giving out free candy.
A bit dull, but more engaging than a civics textbook.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1457509551
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Dog Ear
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Exciting capers for the YA audience, hampered somewhat by undistinguished characters.
Two seventh-grade boys and their professor friend go on a dangerous journey to recover an ancient and powerful artifact in this young-adult adventure novel.
In the series’ previous installment, Professor Atlas and the Summoning Dagger (2011), friends Tyler Gerard and Brandon Giles won a trip to England with American explorer and professor Fielding Atlas to search for an enchanted dagger—a search that included time travel to the 14th century. This novel picks up where that story left off, with a new task: to travel to Japan to meet up with the wizard Mercastus. Along the way, the trio experiences a kidnapping, a train ride, a rescue and a big adventure in India, where they aim to recover the stolen Jewel of Enlightenment from the Palace of Vengeance. This volume doesn’t involve time travel, but there’s plenty of wizard fun, exotic locations, fight scenes and brilliant schemes, as well as a dangerous sect and a mischievous monkey. As the novel acknowledges, the Palace of Vengeance is quite similar to the first book’s medieval Hallswich Castle, although this time the team must account for modern-day security. Maguire (Kid in Chief, 2012) writes this fast-moving tale in a lively tone: A villain wears “an expression of disappointment that made him look like an enormous baby who had been told he couldn’t have a balloon,” and a venomous water snake’s “bluish-black, scaly skin accented by white rings gave it an aura of sleek deadliness.” Sometimes the magic can be a little too convenient or easy, as when the Jewel of Enlightenment gives an ancient Mesopotamian the ability to predict a solar eclipse through “his newly found intelligence.” Also, apart from eyeglasses, the two boys are almost identical, with similar speech patterns, abilities and personalities, and even the titular professor Atlas may be hard for readers to picture.
Exciting capers for the YA audience, hampered somewhat by undistinguished characters.Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1457517136
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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