Fischer’s spunky and introspective protagonist offers a sympathetic mirror for many kids, both boys and girls.
Twelve-year-old Abby’s plans for summer quickly unravel when she learns she needs to attend summer school after failing English.
Abby enjoys entertaining others with her comic antics, but her impetuosity can get in her way. Abby has ADHD (“the type…boys usually have, the hyperactive/impulsive variety) and lately finds herself apologizing a lot. After an impulsive scheme for revenge on her teacher goes awry, Abby reaches a turning point. Thanks to the guidance of Dr. C and the mentoring of a dedicated and caring summer school teacher, Abby’s summer is transformed. Meeting and working with the diverse group of summer school students fosters new relationships for the white girl. She soon develops genuine friendships with free-spirited Latina Trina, the seemingly aloof Amy, and new student Max. (The latter are both white.) Fischer creates a captivating portrayal of one girl’s experiences with ADHD. She captures Abby’s vibrant personality and sense of humor while sympathetically addressing her struggles, deftly revealing Abby’s dismay when her remarks inadvertently upset others. Fischer conveys Abby’s uncertainties behind her extroverted facade. As the summer progresses, Abby’s relationships, both with her family and new friends, deepen as she gains a greater self-understanding.
Fischer’s spunky and introspective protagonist offers a sympathetic mirror for many kids, both boys and girls. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-53634-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A tale full of set pieces meant to lead kids to home truths but that might not get them there.
When narrator Gus is rescued from neighborhood bully Bo by the very capable Rossi—who sacrifices her beloved dirt bike, Loretta, in the doing—an unlikely adventure in the nearby Dead Frenchman’s Mine is triggered.
Equipped with a pickle jar of water and some sandwiches, Gus sets off into the mine in search of treasure to buy Loretta back, with the unwanted company of Bo’s lackey Matthew. Shortly after, Rossi shows up in the mine with Jessie, Gus’ former best friend. (Readers learn early on that Rossi is Native American and Jessie is Mexican-American; Gus and Matthew are implied white.) Naturally, the mine tunnel collapses, leaving them trapped. In a series of narrative contrivances, the four 13-year-olds happen upon discoveries that may lead both to their escape and to the truth behind an old local legend. Even as they struggle to find their way—and amid encounters with a mountain lion, bats, and javelinas—the kids take time to discuss many of the challenges they face in the outside world and among one another. These interludes may strike readers as ill-timed given the danger, but they offer Bowling ample opportunity to play Gus’ cluelessness and Matthew’s casual malice against Rossi’s and Jessie’s firsthand familiarity with American racism. Although Gus is careful to point out that Rossi is Tohono O’odham, and later Rossi reveals some factoids about her heritage, his fascination with her dark ponytail and her general inscrutability reinforce stereotypes—as does the obviousness of the setup.
A tale full of set pieces meant to lead kids to home truths but that might not get them there. (Adventure. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2924-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
A didactic blueprint disguised as a supernatural treasure map.
A girl who delights in the macabre harnesses her inherited supernatural ability.
It’s not just her stark white hair that makes 11-year-old Zee Puckett stand out in nowheresville Knobb’s Ferry. She’s a storyteller, a Mary Shelley fangirl, and is being raised by her 21-year-old high school dropout sister while their father looks for work upstate (cue the wayward glances from the affluent demography). Don’t pity her, because Zee doesn’t acquiesce to snobbery, bullying, or pretty much anything that confronts her. But a dog with bleeding eyes in a cemetery gives her pause—momentarily—because the beast is just the tip of the wicked that has this way come to town. Time to get some help from ghosts. The creepy supernatural current continues throughout, intermingled with very real forays into bullying (Zee won’t stand for it or for the notion that good girls need to act nice), body positivity, socio-economic status and social hierarchy, and mental health. This debut from a promising writer involves a navigation of caste systems, self-esteem, and villainy that exists in an interesting world with intriguing characters, but they receive a flat, two-dimensional treatment that ultimately makes the book feel like one is learning a ho-hum lesson in morality. Zee is presumably White (as is her rich-girl nemesis–cum-comrade, Nellie). Her best friend, Elijah, is cued as Black. Warning: this just might spur frenzied requests for Frankenstein.
A didactic blueprint disguised as a supernatural treasure map. (Supernatural. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-304460-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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