This hope-filled book is a beautiful picture of broken humanity, a storytelling wonder.
“There is such a thing as honorable lying,” declares 11-year-old Lyndie B. Hawkins, who has a keen eye for history, research, and the truth.
It’s 1985. Lyndie and her parents have moved into her grandparents’ home in Love’s Forge, Tennessee. Her dad is a Vietnam War veteran who drinks in his car and disappears for days. Her classmates taunt her about her “Hippie Commie Alabama Trash” mother, who stays locked in her room with headaches. What really sticks in her craw, though, is her grandma Lady, who is determined to mold her into a well-mannered Southern girl, demanding silence about their family secrets. But a newfound friendship with a boy named D.B. from the frightful Pure Visions juvenile detention center sparks in her the courage to find and speak the truth. The hills and valleys of the Smoky Mountains mirror this prideful Southern family, full of pain and loyalty and the importance of appearances. Teasing out the details of D.B.’s troubled life allows Lyndie to re-evaluate the varnished truth of both her own family and that of where she lives. Were her white ancestors really the first to settle Love’s Forge? More immediately, what happened to Daddy in Vietnam? Why does Lady keep secrets? Daddy says, “You’d best take care, what you lend your heart to.” Readers will lose their hearts to this sassy and aching heroine. Full of Southern toughness and mountain charm, her fierce and funny voice fills the pages with fine storytelling.
This hope-filled book is a beautiful picture of broken humanity, a storytelling wonder. (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-42845-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kathy Dawson/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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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