Sweet and smart.
Keiko and her two best friends navigate the drama of seventh grade.
Keiko Carter is ready to start seventh grade with her two best friends, Jenna Sakai and Audrey Lassiter. Jenna is finally back from spending the summer with her dad in Texas, and everything is perfect now that the trio is together again. Keiko wants to experience new clubs and activities together, but Audrey has something else in mind: boyfriends. Keiko goes along with it, but Jenna tires of always doing things Audrey’s way. Stuck in the middle of the fight, Keiko wants to make everyone happy. And that’s just the beginning of her troubles. Her mom is never home because of a new job; her sister is hiding something; and Keiko might have a crush on a boy she shouldn’t like. Keeping the peace is what Keiko does, but she must decide if it’s worth sacrificing her happiness this time. In her middle-grade debut, Florence creates a fun, accessible story, touching on the realities of middle school, such as friendships, fallouts, misunderstandings, first crushes, and fitting in. The highs and lows of the girls’ friendship highlight toxic relationships versus true friendship. Keiko is biracial, half Japanese American and half white; Jenna is Japanese American; and Audrey is white.
Sweet and smart. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-60752-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
A rich, captivating story that will resonate with readers.
A coming-of-age story bringing awareness to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, “a holiday no one in this school seems to care about.”
Seventh grader Wesley Wilder, an Upper Skagit Indian Tribe descendant living just north of Seattle, proudly awaits the publication of her celebratory work, “We Still Belong: An Indigenous Peoples’ Day Poem!” But when her English teacher doesn’t mention her poem, despite always giving extra credit and class discussion time to students who are published in the school paper, she feels hurt and confused. Later, Wesley’s plans to ask the boy she’s crushing on to the school dance are derailed, adding to her emotional roller coaster. Day (Upper Skagit) crafts believable, complex characters: Wesley lives in a multigenerational Native family, is an outstanding student, a musician, and a gamer. She is kind and helps others in need. Her grandfather’s words—“the things that scare us the most in this world are usually the most worthwhile things in our lives”—help ease her vulnerability and self-doubt. This story, which weaves diversity into the supporting cast, incorporates layers of Native identity throughout, as Wesley connects with a new friend who is a young Native activist, learning more about Christopher Columbus. The triumphant ending shows Wesley raised up by family, friends, and community.
A rich, captivating story that will resonate with readers. (author’s note, note from Cynthia Leitich Smith of Heartdrum, We Need Diverse Books statement) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780063064560
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Heartdrum
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
Despite flaws, this is a book worth reading simply for its originality
A fantasy based in Caribbean folklore.
Corinne La Mer is a brave 11-year-old growing up on a Caribbean island. On All Hallow’s Eve, when a pair of troublemaking brothers tie her deceased mother’s prized necklace to a wild animal, Corinne chases the animal into the forest to retrieve it. However, this is no ordinary forest: It’s known for being the abode of “jumbies,” creatures “hidden in the shadows, always waiting for their moment to attack.” Though Corinne doesn’t believe in them, a jumbie follows her out of the forest. The third-person narration tells the back story—in bits and pieces—of this jumbie, who reveals herself to be Corinne’s mother’s sister. It’s never satisfactorily explained why Severine (as Corinne’s jumbie aunt calls herself) seeks out her niece, nearly a decade after her sister’s death. In order to fight Severine—who, sympathetically, only wants a family but is bent on turning humans to jumbies to get one—Corinne must rely not only on her own strength, but that of newfound friends. The novel is based on a Haitian folk tale, according to the author’s note, and it’s refreshing to see a fantasy with its roots outside Europe. Baptiste never quite manages to control the story’s pacing, though, and certain elements in the ending feel arbitrary.
Despite flaws, this is a book worth reading simply for its originality . (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61620-414-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
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