If there were a reality show called Real Housewives of Tuscaloosa: The Middle School Years, this might suffice as the print...
This second book of the Tig Ripley series continues as Tig and her all-girl band, Pandora's Box, struggle with middle school drama.
Pandora’s Box is made up of Tig and her classmates Olivia, Robbie, and Claire and her cousin Kyra. The five girls are now making attempts to improve their instrumental skills since gaining local notoriety winning a regional competition and appearing on a University of Alabama television show (Rock ’n’ Roll Rebel, 2016). The weak link of the band has been Kyra, who can barely play a lick and seems to only be in the band because she wants to be famous. The girls fuss at rehearsals about Kyra’s lack of skills, and Robbie brings in a talented new girl, Paris, who threatens Kyra’s place in the band. Tig is still secretly pining over her secret crush, Will Mason, who is dating bandmate Olivia (a twosome that Tig paired up even though she had feelings for Will). Even when the author tries to throw in a divorce of one of the band mates’ parents in a possible attempt to add substance, the drama among the girls supersedes any real depth. Along with Rue’s failed attempt at teenspeak—“He’s totes smart” (“totes” is just so 2010)—the characters lack complexity, and the band's story is reduced to a soap opera. Tig’s world is largely white, with Chinese-American Robbie the only significant exception.
If there were a reality show called Real Housewives of Tuscaloosa: The Middle School Years, this might suffice as the print version. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-58536-947-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK TO SCREEN
Brava!
From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage.
Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We’re the cool kids….He's the dork." With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer.
Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-32698-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
SEEN & HEARD
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