LOST BOYS

Name: LOST BOYS
Author: Darcey Rosenblatt
ISBN: 978-1-62779-758-0

by Darcey Rosenblatt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 2017

Reza’s story is compelling, but the simplistic depiction of secondary characters as good Muslims and bad Muslims turns a...

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In Rosenblatt’s ambitious debut novel, Reza, a 12-year-old Iranian boy, clings to friendship and his love of music as the Iran-Iraq War tears his world apart.

Reza’s father has died in the war, and Reza’s mother, who follows the Great Leader without thinking, would be proud if he suffered the same fate. At school, a mullah comes to recruit boys, enticing them with the promise of riches and beautiful women in the afterlife if they die in the war. When tragedy strikes his family again, taking the life of his only supportive relative, Reza decides to follow his best friend and enlist. After a horrifying battle scene, Reza ends up in a prisoner-of-war camp, where he befriends boys who have abandoned faith in the war and in Islam, as he has, and clashes with the judgmental bully who remains pro-revolution and continues practicing Islam. The characterization of Muslims tends to conflate religious faith with violence, sympathetic characters rejecting both while most evil characters embrace both. The notable exception to this rule dies early in the story; although Reza returns to Islam toward the end, it is too late to counteract this simplistic tendency. The Irish foreign-aid worker who teaches at the camp is the most well-developed secondary character, perhaps not surprising, since the author’s main source consists of an aid worker’s accounts. Absent from the source notes are written accounts by Iranians who lived through the war, which may have helped breathe life into the Iranian characters as well.

Reza’s story is compelling, but the simplistic depiction of secondary characters as good Muslims and bad Muslims turns a complicated historical subject into a setting that reinforces stereotypes many Westerners hold. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 11-14)

Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-62779-758-0

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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THE LAST CHERRY BLOSSOM

by Kathleen Burkinshaw ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016

Tragedy and hope collide in this promising middle-grade debut.

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Japanese native Yuriko Ishikawa lives in Hiroshima with Papa, Aunt Kimiko, and annoying cousin Genji during the turmoil of World War II in Burkinshaw’s historical novel.

War seeps its way into every aspect of Yuriko’s life. Constant air-raid sirens and drills interrupt her daydreams, and the drone of “B-sans” (American B-29s) flying overhead fills her ears. She’s clumsy with exercises using bamboo spears as weapons, and when she and her best friend, Machiko, play jazz on the record player, they must do it in secret because all things American are banned. At home, a double wedding is planned, and new family members—Papa’s second wife, Sumiyo-san, and Aunt Kimiko’s second husband, Akira-san—move in. Will she ever have time alone with Papa again? Despite the necessity of participating in the war effort, Yuriko and her family do their best with normal activities, such as celebrating Oshagatsu (New Year’s) and the Cherry Blossom Festival. When a shocking family secret is revealed, Yuriko is shattered, but nothing can prepare her or her community for the unthinkable devastation about to hit their city. Chapter epigraphs of radio-show transcripts, newspaper headlines, and propaganda posters set the chilling tone. Told with reverence and authenticity, Yuriko’s journey is inspired by the author’s mother’s real-life experiences growing up in Hiroshima and surviving that tragic day on Aug. 6, 1945.

Tragedy and hope collide in this promising middle-grade debut. (afterword, bibliography, glossary, statistics about Hiroshima) (Historical fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-63450-693-9

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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THE LEFT-HANDED FATE

by Kate Milford ; illustrated by Eliza Wheeler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 23, 2016

Rich and strange of place and premise; suspenseful and thought-provoking.

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An ancient inscription and a handful of inscrutable artifacts plunge three young people into both the War of 1812 and a much larger, older conflict.

Opening in Baltimore then moving on to the not-entirely-earthly town of Nagspeake (setting, in another era, of Milford’s Greenglass House, 2014), the tale centers on staid, methodical “natural philosopher” Max Ault; 12-year-old American naval officer Oliver Dexter; and fiery Lucy Bluecrowne, daughter of a renowned British privateer, captain of the titular ship. It pits them against both relentless French pursuers and mysterious men in black with eldritch abilities. The prize is a three-part device made thousands of years ago and said to be able to stop war…a superweapon, or so everyone (nearly everyone) presumes. Along with being replete with rousing chases, races, and violent explosions, the tale is uncommonly rich in memorable characters, from the central three, who all display stout hearts and hidden depths, to Lucy’s 9-year-old half brother, part-Chinese Liao: pacifist, expert lockpick, and fireworks genius extraordinaire. The labyrinthine Nagspeake itself is magical and vivid enough to serve as more than just a setting (and deservedly sports a metafictional website). Wheeler’s neatly turned monochromes capture the tale’s warmth and wonder, though (at least as she depicts it) the cast appears to be white, excepting Liao.

Rich and strange of place and premise; suspenseful and thought-provoking. (Fantasy. 11-13)