A quiet testament to readers who relish the beauty of language over action.
A boy draws on Arthurian legend to ease his grief in this companion verse novel to Eva of the Farm (2012).
Having recently witnessed his parents’ deaths from a drowning accident, Eckhart Lyon is sent to live with his uncle Albert, one of his few living relatives, on a trial basis. A gaming expert, the boy is certain he’ll never enjoy his strange uncle’s rural home without modern technology, but he grows to appreciate helping his uncle rebuild his orchard and hanging out with Eva, from a neighboring property. Despite these brief, comforting moments, he struggles with unrelenting guilt, feelings of cowardice and a desire to make his uncle’s house a real home. Calhoun’s precise verse (“Suddenly the stars beating down / were too bright, / the river too loud”) make Eckhart’s anguish palpable. The boy soon likens himself to Sir Gawain, who proved his worth to his uncle, King Arthur, before becoming a knight. Eckhart’s quest for home and courage is a true test, as his uncle grapples with his own grief and despair and will not commit to Eckhart’s future. A sudden tragedy allows the boy to heed the call of bravery, show his knightly spirit and forge a new family.
A quiet testament to readers who relish the beauty of language over action. (Verse novel. 9-12)Pub Date: July 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4424-3985-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
Uplifting.
Eleni Klarstein, feeling like a friendship failure after Sylvie Bank ditches her, launches a Friendship Fact-Finding Mission to set things right.
Leni is looking forward to starting sixth grade with bestie Sylvie by her side, but even before school starts, Sylvie distances herself. Leni is heartbroken—she lost her camp friend over the summer, too. When she thinks about it, other friendships in the past have also lapsed. In this heartening tale, Leni decides to take a long look at friendship by conducting a dedicated investigation. Through her first-person narration, readers feel up close and personal with all Leni’s emotions: the pain, the humor, and the shock. As she reconnects with friends past, Leni discovers much about others and how they experienced their relationships with her, and she bravely faces some hard truths about herself. In the process, Leni brings closure to some relationships and develops new ties. It’s the rare individual who can take such an awkward, glorious deep dive, and readers will be grateful to go through everything with Leni as their guide. Ultimately, she learns that sometimes the right thing is accepting that relationships grow and change. In case readers need reminding of this, there’s a handy list of “Top Ten Takeaways” for being a good friend at the end. Leni is White and Jewish; there is some diversity in the well-rounded cast of secondary characters.
Uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-306267-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
A promising fiction debut.
Family secrets, an unsolved bank robbery, summer on a lake, a treasure island and a first romance are the ingredients for this inviting middle-grade mystery.
Unhappy with his new life and new stepfather in Southern California, 13-year-old Trav runs away to the small town in Minnesota where his dad grew up and his grandmother lives. He quickly learns why his mother won’t talk about his father, who died before he was born. Suspected of having robbed a local bank, the man disappeared in a storm, his boat washed up on an island in the lake. Everyone figures Trav knows where the money is, a theory confirmed when some of the burgled money turns up in local stores after his arrival. Trav manages to convince neighbor kid Kenny and his hot cousin Iz of his innocence, and together, they try to figure out where the loot might have been stashed and who has sent Trav a threatening note. Careful plotting and end-of-chapter cliffhangers add to the suspense. The first-person narration suggests that Trav’s imagination has been fed by too much television, but the imagined threats become frighteningly real as the story progresses. Trav’s voice is believable, Bullard’s Minnesota setting full of convincing detail, and the boy’s hesitant romantic efforts add a pleasant embellishment.
A promising fiction debut. (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-544-02900-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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