by Floella Benjamin ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2012
An implausible novel not worth the sea salt of the title, despite the Caribbean setting and nod to island life.
Can a British teen overcome her bitterness at leaving London when her family moves to Barbados?
Evidently not. Jasmine, almost 13, is furious that her protective parents didn’t consult her about their decision to leave the dangerous environment of South London and moved to Barbados. Even though her father was a born "Bajan," all of the family meets resentment from the locals: her mother at her job at a bank; her father from the undermining construction workers he oversees; and Jasmine from the kids at school who label her “English.” In her bullheaded determination to get back to England and her friends, 4,000 miles away, Jasmine steals a 40-foot speedboat (she has no experience with them), causes a fight at school, and almost sneaks aboard a cargo ship sailing to England. Adding to the convoluted plot, a corrupt businessman threatens to buy the generations-old house where Jasmine’s Grannie lives, and a local fisherman’s son befriends her. British terms may perplex American readers: stroppy, people-carrier, cool box. Despite dabs of intrigue and romance, all of the plot developments are far too convenient, and Jasmine’s turn-around attitude at the end is unbelievable.
An implausible novel not worth the sea salt of the title, despite the Caribbean setting and nod to island life. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: June 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84780-058-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
Share your opinion of this book
More by Floella Benjamin
BOOK REVIEW
by Floella Benjamin & illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain
BOOK REVIEW
by Floella Benjamin & illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain
BOOK REVIEW
by Floella Benjamin & illustrated by Sheila Moxley
by Mitali Perkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2010
Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
Share your opinion of this book
More by Mitali Perkins
BOOK REVIEW
by Mitali Perkins ; illustrated by Khoa Le
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Mitali Perkins ; illustrated by Kevin Howdeshell & Kristen Howdeshell
by Jack Gantos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
Share your opinion of this book
More by Jack Gantos
BOOK REVIEW
by Jack Gantos ; illustrated by Jack Gantos
BOOK REVIEW
by Jack Gantos
BOOK REVIEW
by Jack Gantos
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.