Eye-opening and engaging; a triumphant mashup of underdog sporting contest and teen drama.
This debut YA novel sees a Black chess enthusiast commit more fully to his high school teammates and—through their camaraderie—tackle problems away from the board.
Fourteen-year-old Moses “Mose” Middleton attends Q722, a public school in Jackson Heights, Queens. Mose is a keen amateur chess player and has organized a team to compete in tournaments run by the NYC Chess in the Schools program. Though united by a desire to prove themselves, Mose and his friends have difficulties that prevent them from giving their best. Mose is prone to concentration lapses, often the result of focusing too much on his opponent. P.D. “Personality Disorder” Morales is a genius underachiever with truancy issues that frequently extend to chess. (He will wander off midcompetition and forfeit games.) Maggie Wang has problems with a creepy uncle at home. Esther Toussaint is a self-driven overachiever with little time for the game. And Zamir Hoxha is a recently arrived Albanian immigrant who is being bullied at school. If the team is to survive, Mose knows he’ll need to bring the members closer together. His first step? To seek out the mentorship of Viktor Fleischmann, a Russian player. Viktor “was rumored to be an international grandmaster who’d lost his marbles and run out of luck.” Under his guidance, will the five young players become greater than the sum of their troubled parts? In this series opener, Novak writes in the first person, past tense from Mose’s perspective. The dialogue is convincingly Generation Z, and Mose is an able representative of a non-White, unprivileged upbringing—someone forced by life to be acutely aware of racial and social dynamics yet determined to rise above injustice and always behave appropriately (he is mindful of toxic masculinity). Mose is not without flaws, but he remains a thoughtful, self-aware protagonist who is easy to cheer for. The other characters are well drawn, and the author is both measured and respectful in presenting different ideologies. The chess content is accurate throughout yet not so detailed as to put off nonplayers. The story moves quickly but naturally, weaving with assurance between the chess plot and Mose’s and his friends’ various issues. Young readers should very much approve and enjoy.
Eye-opening and engaging; a triumphant mashup of underdog sporting contest and teen drama.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2021
ISBN: 979-8-49435-107-4
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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