Accessible and engaging, this novel shines as an exceptional tale of self-acceptance and understanding.
A seventh grader’s Chinese and Muslim identities take center stage as she navigates friendship tensions and self-acceptance.
Sophie Hu grapples with the meaning of embracing her faith when her family members, who are Hui, follow only minimal Islamic practices: “Other than not eating pork, what does it mean that I’m Muslim?” She struggles when her bisexual best friend, Katie, forms new friendships in the school’s LGBTQ+ club. Their bond is further tested during the Rainbow Fair, a major middle school cultural event. Katie’s organizing an LGBTQ+ booth, and a teacher unexpectedly tasks Sophie with creating a Muslim one: “The only thing worse than being the school’s only Muslim is being the school’s inauthentic Muslim.” The arrival of Turkish American transfer student Anna Demir, a fellow Muslim, helps Sophie see that there isn’t just one way to embody one’s faith, sparking a journey of self-discovery. Ultimately, Sophie embraces her layered heritage, opens conversations about her family’s history (her parents were born in Taiwan), and helps others celebrate their authentic selves. Ma deftly examines the intersectionality of identity with nuance and authenticity. Sophie’s growth—recognizing that her family’s approach to Islam doesn’t invalidate their faith—adds depth to the narrative. Meanwhile, her evolving friendship with Katie reflects the natural growing pains of middle school relationships. Ma offers a rich, relatable, and inclusive story that’s perfect for young readers grappling with their own questions of belonging.
Accessible and engaging, this novel shines as an exceptional tale of self-acceptance and understanding. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780063339521
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short.
In the dystopian, totalitarian world of 2099, 14-year-old Tessa and her family are desperate to solve the mystery of her twin brother Theo’s disappearance.
Tessa is growing up in a time when playgrounds are historical relics, surveillance cameras are everywhere, music is outlawed, and owning books is illegal. Under the absolute rule of Zokiris, the decadeslong leader of her territory, people are heavily controlled. When Theo vanishes under mysterious circumstances and his name is erased from the Territory Statistics list, Tessa’s 135-year-old neighbor, Miriam, gives the family contraband books that become central to figuring out Theo’s whereabouts. Most books have long since been seized and stored away in Building 903; Tessa is intrigued by their presence in her home, while her mother is terrified. Lowry, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Giver (1993), shines in her creation of uncomfortably believable dystopian societies. Tessa’s painfully limited world is fully imagined, with its own history, laws, and norms. Her relationship with her brother reads as realistic and tender and is crucial to the mystery. Miriam is the most strongly developed character: wise and independent, unafraid and hopeful. While the climb to the book’s climax is captivating, the hurried resolution is disappointing. The powerful messaging around the importance of literature and imagination certainly resonates, however. The main characters present white.
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short. (Dystopian. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063515109
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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