Loving baseball is not limited to the actual playing season. There’s the long winter filled with anticipation and memories. Then there’s the fresh start that comes in the spring, followed by summer games won and lost, heroics and errors and the wonderful tension of a championship autumn. All of these and more are subjects of a cycle of poems that span a baseball year in the life of a young narrator aglow with baseball love. He plays snow baseball in the winter, “warmed by the kind of thoughts / that help me get through February, / the hardest month.” He is also thoroughly supported by his family and teammates, all of whom share his joy and love of the game. Fehler’s verses are filled with aptly chosen descriptive language that engages all the senses. Some are concrete poems that take the shape of the subject or action. Wu’s bright acrylic-and–color pencil illustrations vary in size from small inserts to full-page extravaganzas and beautifully complement the text. A home-run gift for a baseball fanatic. (Poetry. 7-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-618-71962-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2009
A fun, fierce heroine fights architectural ableism with the powers of friendship and capitalism.
A 12-year-old athlete needs new wheels to practice riskier moves in wheelchair motocross.
Emmie’s a daredevil, just like her dad used to be, though her ratty old wheelchair isn’t really up to the jumps, wheelies, and speed she loves. She annoys school staff by doing tricks around campus despite the inaccessibility of the building and portable classrooms. After a mishap, the school imposes an unwanted classroom aide upon her, and a chain of aide-to-teacher gossip leads the school to hold a fundraiser for Emmie’s dream wheelchair. That would sure be faster than Emmie’s continuing to sell custom wheelchair bags online (lovely details about her customers normalize wheelchair use among everyone from a hunter to a LARPer to an entomologist). One customer, AK_SalmonGranny, becomes Emmie’s sounding board as she wrestles with her school’s patronizing paternalism but scolds her for participating in the fundraiser. Emmie’s journey is a solid-but-pleasurable delivery vehicle for any number of Very Important Messages. Emmie is angered by inaccessible architecture and enraged by inspirational glurge. Her coming-of-age, during which she bizarrely learns that as a child from a working-class home whose insurance won’t cover a new wheelchair for some years she apparently shouldn’t accept help buying a new one, is ill-suited to a tale that’s otherwise openly didactic about the social model of disability. Whiteness is situated as the default; contextual clues point to racial diversity in the supporting cast.
A fun, fierce heroine fights architectural ableism with the powers of friendship and capitalism. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-374-38865-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A delightfully funny read that accurately deals with the challenges of internet fame and nurturing friendships.
Comedian Hart’s sophomore middle-grade title, co-authored with Rodkey, explores the ways social media success can impact kids’ relationships and sense of self.
References to Marcus Makes a Movie (2021) give a synopsis of the earlier story to smooth the way for new readers without taking up too much of the narrative. In this entry, the fame generated by Marcus and Sierra’s movie from their after-school film club goes to Marcus’ head and leads to an unhealthy social media fixation. In fact, the movie that the duo created has landed them a spot on a popular television show. Unfortunately, Marcus’ tendency to speak first and ask questions later leads to a collision course with social media trolls, competing against his creative partner for likes, and the alienation of friends. Marcus’ father acts as an effective mirror who helps Marcus process and manage his social media consumption. Through Marcus’ ups and downs that are shared in a chatty tone sprinkled with plenty of humor, readers get a behind-the-scenes look at marketing strategies and the emotional peril of becoming too consumed by the quest for fame. Readers also see how difficult sharing the spotlight and protecting friendships can be. Characters are cued as Black. Final artwork not seen.
A delightfully funny read that accurately deals with the challenges of internet fame and nurturing friendships. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-17918-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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