George and Kate Melvil have won acceptance to Whittaker Magnet School, where they will be exposed to the finest teaching methods in the US and subjected to a test-based, “Leave No High-Scoring Child Behind” program. Classes take place in windowless rooms in the basement, where Kate and her fellow students, the “Mushroom Children,” drink protein shakes and use treadmills to stay in shape for the standardized tests taken every day in every class. Students memorize the prefectures of Japan and GRE vocabulary words, and children’s books are read at Story Time for the phonics lessons they inspire. Kate hates the school and wants nothing more than to be at her old school, singing and acting in the upcoming production of Peter Pan. Adults will relish this wild satire on modern education; young readers will enjoy the horror-story trappings of ghosts, bizarre occurrences, demonic possession, and the big, dark school that looks like Dracula’s castle. A creation with wide appeal. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: April 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-15-204670-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
Seventeen-year-old Chuy dies in the opening scene of this view from beyond; thereafter the story is told by his ghost, “invisible and touchable as light.” Stabbed three times after commenting on a guy’s yellow shoes in the restroom of Club Estrella, Chuy never gets to dance with his friend Rachel. Instead, “like a balloon in the wind,” he floats around town observing the life he’s left. He meets and falls in love with Crystal, who has committed suicide, helps a dead homeless man, flies in formation with some geese, and even takes in a Raiders game. Chuy realizes that he’ll soon be heading for the afterlife but is grateful for the life he had. The ghosts offer no inside information on the big questions: Do we come back? Does heaven exist? How does the Almighty decide who lives and dies? Soto writes with a touch as light as Chuy’s ghost and with humor, wonderment, and a generosity toward life. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-204774-3
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003
A well-researched and deeply moving portrait of an iconic moment in U.S. history.
A free-verse treatment of the killing of four college students during campus protests over the Vietnam War.
College campuses were often flashpoints in the struggle against the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. In May 1970, protestors at Kent State University in Ohio were met by the Ohio National Guard, culminating in the deaths of four unarmed college students and injuries to nine others. The university and the small town surrounding it were all affected by the escalating tensions and disagreement over how to handle the issues. The governor’s strict approach was welcomed by some but resisted by many on campus. Each of the deceased students is described in detail, including how they came to be in the line of fire. Readers hear from a guardsman and a town resident as well as students, their voices showing how perspectives differed depending on individuals’ roles. Especially compelling are the words of Black students, many of whom stayed away from the demonstration, believing, correctly, that the guardsmen had live ammunition. The structure serves to re-create the taut atmosphere of the days leading up to the tragedy, and various perspectives are represented by different fonts and typeface, furthering the sense of polarization. The extensive author’s note extends the narrative, engaging readers in the author’s process and the story’s impact.
A well-researched and deeply moving portrait of an iconic moment in U.S. history. (Verse novel. 12-18)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-35628-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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