An emotional tale of a young person’s journey from heartbreak to hope.
Litch offers a middle-grade novel about a young boy confronting a bully, dealing with grief, and surviving a near-death experience.
Eleven-year-old Michael Morton is small for his age, and he endures the frequent cruelty of school bully Brad. At the same time, Michael is mourning the loss of his mother and grandfather. He finds solace beneath an ancient willow, which he calls “Weeper”; he sees the tree as his friend and a peaceful place to practice drawing superheroes. One day, he ventures too far out on one of Weeper’s branches, which snaps, sending him crashing to the ground. As Michael hovers between life and death, he experiences profound spiritual visions and feelings of love, peace and serenity. He sees his late mother, who imparts life-changing wisdom—“Pain doesn’t always wear the same face…. Sometimes the ones who hurt us are hurting too”—and knowledge about the troubled home life of someone he knows. Michael recovers with support from his neighbor Dr. Tanaka, his Aunt Diane, his father, and his friends Monica Thompson and Danny Rogers. Guided by his mom’s words, Michael resolves to “[look] for the good in everyone,” which reshapes his perspective on life. When Michael faces the difficulty of choosing a dog at the shelter, he turns to an unlikely figure for advice, sowing the seeds of friendship. By sixth grade, Michael understands that compassion can heal even the deepest wounds. Over the course of this novel, Litch’s writing is sincere and thoughtful, confronting painful subjects head-on. The story has a spiritual tone without being overtly religious and feels uplifting while maintaining a sense of realism. This beautifully crafted book is about recognizing each person’s “superpower” and appreciating their uniqueness. It also ably explores the concept of coming to terms with loss while preserving the departed’s spiritual presence, which may comfort many readers.
An emotional tale of a young person’s journey from heartbreak to hope.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780971686960
Page Count: 141
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short.
In the dystopian, totalitarian world of 2099, 14-year-old Tessa and her family are desperate to solve the mystery of her twin brother Theo’s disappearance.
Tessa is growing up in a time when playgrounds are historical relics, surveillance cameras are everywhere, music is outlawed, and owning books is illegal. Under the absolute rule of Zokiris, the decadeslong leader of her territory, people are heavily controlled. When Theo vanishes under mysterious circumstances and his name is erased from the Territory Statistics list, Tessa’s 135-year-old neighbor, Miriam, gives the family contraband books that become central to figuring out Theo’s whereabouts. Most books have long since been seized and stored away in Building 903; Tessa is intrigued by their presence in her home, while her mother is terrified. Lowry, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Giver (1993), shines in her creation of uncomfortably believable dystopian societies. Tessa’s painfully limited world is fully imagined, with its own history, laws, and norms. Her relationship with her brother reads as realistic and tender and is crucial to the mystery. Miriam is the most strongly developed character: wise and independent, unafraid and hopeful. While the climb to the book’s climax is captivating, the hurried resolution is disappointing. The powerful messaging around the importance of literature and imagination certainly resonates, however. The main characters present white.
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short. (Dystopian. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063515109
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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