Bold, extraordinary storytelling: not to be missed.
A crisis forces a talented young football player to consider what he values most.
Henson Blayze, an African American 13-year-old, is looking forward to football season—he’ll be joining the high school team despite still being in eighth grade. The entire town of Great Mountain, Mississippi, which is mostly white, is excited about Henson’s bringing them a championship win. Henson’s fifth grader friend, Menkah Jupiter, who’s like a little brother, is eager to see his idol in action. Townspeople make T-shirts and signs supporting their “Great Mountain Messiah.” At school, teachers and students fawn over Henson, offering him special favors, while his friend Flowell Bridges, a “hive of magnetic personality,” regales all who will listen with stories of Henson’s heroics. But Henson’s vineyard owner father is less enthusiastic—sports have “never been of grave importance” to him—and Henson’s longtime crush, Freida St. Louis, is more interested in social causes. The local news covers their first game—and Henson is outstanding from the beginning. But at halftime he learns that state troopers have badly beaten up Menkah, who’s been hospitalized, and he chooses to leave the game. Adulation quickly turns to fury when it becomes clear that Henson places justice above entertaining the town. Barnes has masterfully crafted a story that’s grounded in history and has fantastical elements woven into it. Henson is an irresistible lead surrounded by a strong supporting cast, and his story sheds light on the reality of racial dynamics.
Bold, extraordinary storytelling: not to be missed. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781984836755
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Brava!
From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage.
Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We’re the cool kids….He's the dork." With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer.
Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-32698-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
SEEN & HEARD
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