by E.E. Richardson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013
A slender romp that will tempt reluctant readers in particular to bite.
Highlighted by an exploding slime monster and a face-off between gangs of vampires, this British import will draw both chills and chortles.
With his father away on the Continent, 17-year-old Tony Kim is in charge of the family magic shop, which deals in the real thing. When he is distracted by a speed potion that has grown into a corrosive, sluglike club, a disguised vampire steals a box holding a deadly ghost snake. Tony reluctantly sets out to track it down. Tony’s investigation trots along past visits to the spooky lairs of local vampires and several broad clues to a helter-skelter subterranean climax—capped by the even more shocking sight of rival vampire gang leaders Malik and Sophie snogging. The humor carries through to the writing: Short, spread-out paragraphs of terse prose are punctuated by hilariously lame spellcasting (“Ghost, your bones are in the ground, / Buried long and deep. / You should be where they are found, / Go back there and sleep!”).
A slender romp that will tempt reluctant readers in particular to bite. (Horror/humor. 11-17)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-7811-2176-4
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Stoke Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
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by Jerry Spinelli ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli.
For two teenagers, a small town’s annual cautionary ritual becomes both a life- and a death-changing experience.
On the second Wednesday in June, every eighth grader in Amber Springs, Pennsylvania, gets a black shirt, the name and picture of a teen killed the previous year through reckless behavior—and the silent treatment from everyone in town. Like many of his classmates, shy, self-conscious Robbie “Worm” Tarnauer has been looking forward to Dead Wed as a day for cutting loose rather than sober reflection…until he finds himself talking to a strange girl or, as she would have it, “spectral maiden,” only he can see or touch. Becca Finch is as surprised and confused as Worm, only remembering losing control of her car on an icy slope that past Christmas Eve. But being (or having been, anyway) a more outgoing sort, she sees their encounter as a sign that she’s got a mission. What follows, in a long conversational ramble through town and beyond, is a day at once ordinary yet rich in discovery and self-discovery—not just for Worm, but for Becca too, with a climactic twist that leaves both ready, or readier, for whatever may come next. Spinelli shines at setting a tongue-in-cheek tone for a tale with serious underpinnings, and as in Stargirl (2000), readers will be swept into the relationship that develops between this adolescent odd couple. Characters follow a White default.
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30667-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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by J.C. Cervantes ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 2022
An original twist on the modern fairy tale amplified by sisterly affection and a poignant sense of place.
Seventeen, studying journalism, and living with her sisters in the City of Angels, Ava Granados believes only in that which she can see. She’s about to see a lot more.
The women of the Granados family have the gift of blessings: Upon her death, a matriarch like Ava’s beloved Nana has the chance to bestow blessings upon her female descendants. When a freak storm keeps Ava from reaching Nana’s bedside in time and disrupts the passage of her blessing before Nana dies, Ava is faced with an unlooked-for challenge, unbelievable new companions, and a boy she has no intention of falling for. Intertwining past and present, stories already told and stories yet to be discovered, debut author Cervantes carries Ava through the tumultuous summer before her senior year of high school with style, charm, and wisdom. This novel will especially resonate with any young person whose formative years have been paved with stories of fierce and industrious ancestors. The Mexican American Granados sisters sit at the junction of Hollywood affluence and immigrant grit, their perspectives adding a vibrant thread to the contemporary tapestry of Latine fiction. And Los Angeles, a city of bold dreams and glittering destinies, is a character all its own: Each lovingly described neighborhood, canyon, and beach brings new emotion to the narrative.
An original twist on the modern fairy tale amplified by sisterly affection and a poignant sense of place. (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-40445-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
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