Characters that will steal readers’ hearts with their humor and resilience, smooth writing, and a satisfying and hopeful...
Groth, a former special education teacher, introduces readers to a sympathetic main character who is trying to move through trauma and to a sparkling supporting cast that gives voice to disability.
White Canadian 16-year-old Munro Maddux is trying to free himself from the Coyote, which is what he calls the thoughts in his head that constantly remind him of all his failings—in particular, how he failed to save his 13-year-old sister, Evie, who had Down syndrome and a heart defect, from dying the year before. A student exchange program to Australia is just the ticket toward healing, and Munro hopes that when he returns home he’ll have left the Coyote Down Under. As he gets to know his host family and starts volunteering at Fair Go Community Village, connecting with its special needs residents, his plan seems to be working. But is the Coyote gone or just prowling? Readers may find Munro’s journey and character development awfully linear, but his first-person narration is strong (both sassy and heart-wrenching) and the thoughtful handling of trauma and difference, both genuine and relevant.
Characters that will steal readers’ hearts with their humor and resilience, smooth writing, and a satisfying and hopeful ending make this a book to enjoy both emotionally and critically. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1409-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
A fast-paced thriller with particular appeal for fans of nature and family stories.
In the latest from bestseller Rice, a teen searches for her sister’s killer with the help of his latest victim.
It’s been eight months since Oli’s sister, Eloise, was murdered, and the police still haven’t found her killer. Keen naturalist Oli takes solace in spending time outdoors alone and with her friends from the school nature club, including her crush, Matt. While she’s visiting the site where Eloise’s body was found by some hikers, Oli ends up rescuing Iris, a girl who’s been buried alive in the same location. Iris’ memory is spotty, but she knows that the kidnapper still has her sister, Hayley, and that he’ll kill her if they go to the police. So the girls team up to find Eloise’s killer and rescue Hayley themselves, traveling along the Connecticut shoreline. Along the way, they find connections to the ghostly Sibylline sisters, who allegedly were oracles nearly a century ago. After a leisurely start, the plot ratchets up to breakneck speed. The killer’s unusual motive, ample information about the flora and fauna of southern New England, and a whisper of the supernatural all add interest to this story about the power of sisterhood. Main characters present white.
A fast-paced thriller with particular appeal for fans of nature and family stories. (Thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781338739534
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
In the end, it’s just another violent dystopian series opener for all its yellow-brick veneer, but it’s a whole lot more fun...
When a cyclone deposits a 21st-century Kansas teen in Oz, she and readers discover there’ve been some changes made.
Dirt-poor “Salvation Amy” Gumm lives in a trailer park, effectively parenting her alcoholic mom (her dad ran off years ago), who seems to care more about her pet rat, Star, than her daughter. That doesn’t mean Amy is eager to be in Oz, particularly this Oz. Tyrannized by a megalomaniacal Dorothy and mined of its magic, it’s a dystopian distortion of the paradise Baum and MGM depicted. In short order, Amy breaks the wholly capricious laws and is thrown into a cell in the Emerald City with only Star for company. There, she’s visited first by the mysterious but sympathetic Pete and then by the witch Mombi, who breaks her out and takes her to the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked (among whom is the very hot Nox). Amy may well be the salvation of Oz—only someone from the Other Place can take Dorothy down. Paige has clearly had the time of her life with this reboot, taking a dystopian-romance template and laying it over Oz. Readers of Baum’s books will take special delight in seeing new twists on the old characters, and they will greet the surprise climactic turnabout with the smugness of insiders.
In the end, it’s just another violent dystopian series opener for all its yellow-brick veneer, but it’s a whole lot more fun than many of its ilk. (Dystopian fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-228067-1
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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