A fascinating, if breathless ramble through the cosmos.
A blank notebook sings its siren song to 9-year-old wordsmith Mina McKee in this mesmerizing prequel to British author Almond’s award-winning Skellig (1998).
Mina’s bold, uneven hand scrawls “My name is Mina and I love the night” in her first chapter “Moonlight, Wonder, Flies & Nonsense.” Rather than chronicling her life in England with her widowed mother “to boring infinitum,” she decides to let her words “murmur and scream and dance and sing.” The result is the portrait of a writer as a young girl. Mina wonders and wanders, giddily examining the nature of the mind, language, sadness, swearing, schools-as-cages, daftness, owls, death, God, verbs, pee, pneumatization, spaghetti pomodoro and modern art—all through essays, footnotes, poems, stories, dreams, creative writing assignments and the occasional “extraordinary fact,” such as that household dust is mostly made up of human skin. The pages can’t quite contain Mina’s mad joy for life’s wonders, not even with occasional blasts of giant black type and rashes of exclamation points. Readers who feel like outsiders may find a kindred spirit in the homeschooled, mostly friendless Mina, who has been called everything from a witch to “Miss Bonkers,” and fans of Skellig will enjoy discovering the moment when Michael moves in next door to Mina.
A fascinating, if breathless ramble through the cosmos. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-74073-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
Heartwarming, insightful, and surprisingly funny.
A middle schooler tries to survive his worst day ever.
Seventh grader Andrew Yaeger has a lot on his mind. Money is tight, his beloved grandmother is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and the biggest bully in school is after him. To make matters worse, it’s picture day, and Andrew’s mom desperately wants one good photo of him. But after taking a basketball to the face in gym class, getting knocked into a trophy case by his bully, and getting sprayed with grape juice thanks to a friend’s explosive sneeze, Andrew’s anxiety starts to simmer. When he gets a call from his mom saying that his grandma has gone missing, his anxiety escalates from simmering to boiling—and he starts to wonder whether he can withstand the pressure. One bright spot is the presence of Aisha “Jonesy” Jones, his lifelong best friend—although their friendship is shifting as she spends more time with her basketball friends. Harrell’s conversational tone, snappy pacing, and realistic dialogue make each chapter eminently readable. The accompanying black-and-white doodles, notes, and comics lend humor to some serious situations. Harrell does a fantastic job of explaining the symptoms accompanying anxiety and panic attacks in simple terms, with Andrew feeling “like I’m in hot oil and I might pop” or “there’s a blue whale…crushing my chest.” Readers will also appreciate the accurate depictions of talk therapy and of the tics that accompany Andrew’s OCD. Andrew is white; Jonesy is Black.
Heartwarming, insightful, and surprisingly funny. (author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593697924
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Bridges everyday racism and accountable allyship with sincerity.
In an NYC landscape deeply shaped by race, sixth grader Stephen struggles to speak his piece.
“Since I was little, it’s been hard to speak up,” says Stephen. He’s half African American and half White, but even still, most people just say he’s Black. Alongside his “white-white” best friend, Dan, he’s deeply into fantasy, science fiction, and superheroes like the new Spider-Man, Miles Morales. When Dan’s cousin Chad arrives on the scene, however, things take a turn. Chad has a rep for trespassing, a penchant for contradicting Stephen, and, most wack of all, believes “they shoulda kept Spider-Man white.” For Stephen to separate himself means he must be willing to step out against that part of himself that believes going along works, if only for the current moment. After all, isn’t that how you are supposed to be—in every lane, able to do whatever, with anyone and everyone? Wes, a Black friend, thinks Stephen should just embrace the lane with his Black and brown classmates instead of “grimy heads” like Chad. How will Stephen deal? Maldonado pursues a story about biracial boyhood, healthy friendships, and self-discovery while gesturing toward the influence of social movements like Black Lives Matter in reshaping what accountable friendship looks like. Voiced in the creative language of NYC youth, the novel models what it means to embrace the power of self-awareness and relationships built on mutual respect.
Bridges everyday racism and accountable allyship with sincerity. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-51843-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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