In a witty, touching first novel, 15-year-old Justine Trainor's borderline nerd image is pushed to the limit when Justine spends time with new neighbor Mike Lombardo, an eighth grader who shares her passion for avant-garde movies. Justine's mom encourages her friendship with Mike's gorgeous airhead sister Heather, but as Mike points out, ``no one I could like could possibly like my sister. Lombardo's Law.'' Still, Justine agrees to a disastrous double date with Heather and her boyfriend and falls into a boring relationship with a boy at school, just to appear ``normal.'' When the two screen buffs decide to produce a video spoofing 2001: A Space Odyssey, the local cable station airs it, their budding talents are recognized, and they're forced to acknowledge their attraction to each other. Deft characterization (of even minor players like Mike's agoraphobic mother and Justine's oversolicitous parents) and a breezy style recalling Brock Cole's Celine contribute to a well-crafted story in a voice that's true to the emotional confusion of adolescence while maintaining a light touch; literary and cinematic references add interest without detracting from the central theme of first love. All will cheer when Mike proclaims, after a rotten second-floor railing lands him on the ground with Justine praying he hasn't been killed, ``A fall from a balcony deserves a kiss...Lombardo's law.'' (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-395-65969-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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