An exciting, complex tale with a terrific heroine.
In Cook’s debut novel for middle-grade readers, a girl on a camping trip braves volcanic eruptions, pirates, and her own townspeople.
In an alternate version of our contemporary world, a 10-year-old girl named Veronica lives on a volcano with her family. They do weekly eruption drills and need special protection for their house and car, but they also get a lava-heated pool and free lava-pump electricity. Veronica wants to get some volcano pearls for her mother’s birthday, which means a risky expedition to the far side of Mount Mystery—one that could involve “Violent eruptions, poisonous geysers, pyroclastic flows, [and] lava bombs as big as houses,” her father worries. An old man in town also disturbingly warns Veronica about an evil man in white. Nevertheless, she, her best friend Maddy, and their fathers set out on their perilous camping trip. Along the way, Veronica learns more about the area’s history from Maddy’s dad, Capt. John, the 17th member of the family bearing that name. As the foursome traverses abandoned Babeltown, steep Magma Pass, stinking Yellow Lake, and other landmarks, they encounter all the hazards that Veronica’s father predicted and more, making a series of hairsbreadth escapes before reaching Mount Mystery, with the greatest dangers still to come. An exploding volcano, the aforementioned man wearing white, and superstitious townspeople challenge Veronica, who gets help from a very unexpected source to solve a baffling mystery. In his debut, Cook offers an exciting, well-paced adventure tale with an appealingly game young heroine. The scenes of danger and escape are taut and well-handled, with Cook providing lots of cool tech (ice tires!). What makes this YA novel really stand out, though, is its multilayered, insightful poignancy. Behind the fun adventure, for example, is a sense of real loss, as shown in short notes left by wanderers in a box by a bridge: “Please make my mom well. Make her sing and dance again. Are you listening?” Cook also deals thoughtfully with such concepts as so-called “savages” and how victors write history. Shamsey’s beautiful, dynamic full-color illustrations do a great job helping to tell the story.
An exciting, complex tale with a terrific heroine.Pub Date: June 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-89200-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Violet Moon
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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