A reasonably amusing gift for band students but not one they’ll want to revisit.
A book of rhyming poetry for concert and marching band nerds.
This illustrated collection presents a lighthearted love of all things band—from jokes about different instruments (arrogant trumpet players come up several times and there’s a saxophonist who has four extra fingers) to silly rhymes. An introduction titled “Stereotypes” explains how stereotypes can be harmful and concludes that “we can choose to let them shape us, or we can choose to write a silly poem book about them and laugh it off.” However, this push back against stereotypes, such as that band nerds are awkward and undatable, would all play better if so many poems didn’t fall flat. Additionally, unkind comments about people’s appearances (including pictures that caricature someone with an overbite and a woman whose too-tight top pops open) and the reliance on gender norms (the band director is always depicted as a man) strike a wrong note. A longer poem about a group of boys and their male band director on a trip who spy on strangers being intimate in a hot tub—“we all remember ‘hot tub’ night / As the night we all grew up”—feels out of place for the mostly child-friendly tone of the collection. The black-and-white line illustrations add context and additional humor to the poems. Most characters appear White, but there is some ethnic diversity throughout.
A reasonably amusing gift for band students but not one they’ll want to revisit. (Poetry. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72821-982-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
This one shoots and scores.
Tre wants to play basketball—for his brother, for his reservation, and for his future.
Ojibwe sophomore Tre Brun from Red Lake Nation Reservation in Minnesota recently lost Jaxon, his high school basketball star brother, in a car accident. All Tre wants to do these days is read graphic novels, hang out with his friends, get new girl Khiana to like him back, and play basketball. With dreams of making it in the NBA and one day becoming the subject of best friend Wes’ first documentary, Tre hopes to make varsity this school year and help his brother’s old team, the Warriors, finally make it to states. Basketball is taken seriously on the reservation, and Tre must learn to have faith in himself despite his father’s lack of belief in him while also navigating racism, the resentment of those who think he falls short of his brother’s legacy, and the pitfalls of partying and trying too hard to fit in. Debut author Graves (Ojibwe) presents a deeply personal look at grief, the weight of expectations, and the ways we find connections with those we have lost. While the start feels a bit forced, the novel quickly settles into its coming-of-age sports-underdog story, giving readers tense, fast-paced descriptions of high-stakes basketball games interspersed with textured descriptions of life on the reservation.
This one shoots and scores. (glossary, note from Cynthia Leitich Smith) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9780063160378
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Heartdrum
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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