This funny, charismatic heroine will capture her readers’ hearts
A fifth-grader who dreams of becoming a famous actor cannot find role models that reflect her Cambodian background.
Following Dream On, Amber (2015), Shevah returns with another book, this time deftly navigating the complexity of being a transracial adoptee. Dara knows she’s perfect for the lead role in her school’s production of The Sound of Music. When she fails to land a role, she’s thinks it’s because she was adopted from Cambodia. Her dark brown skin and brown hair don’t look the part of Austrian nun. Dreams crushed, Dara struggles for a sense of belonging. Her younger sister, Georgia, who was adopted from Russia, looks more like their British parents than Dara does. A classmate taunts her Asian heritage, calling her “noodlehead,” yet she has no memories of her 18 months in the orphanage. She feels compelled to choose sides when her friend Vanna, another Cambodian adoptee, invites Dara to visit their orphanage together. With the support of her ginger-haired older brother Felix, she reluctantly joins an after-school drama class. With the help of her friends and family, Dara writes a play about her own life—in which a Cambodian-British girl can be the star. Crawford-White’s charming doodle illustrations along the margins reflects Dara’s inner monologues throughout the book.
This funny, charismatic heroine will capture her readers’ hearts . (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3138-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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