An entertaining, contemporary coming-of-age tale that subtly draws from an archetypal well.
A seventh grader with an unfortunate last name tries to survive junior high hazing in this middle-grade novel.
As his first year at Robert Frost Junior High in Los Angeles begins, Max Odor has two chief worries, neither of them about academics. The first is the inevitable giggling about his name and having to correct every new teacher’s pronunciation (it’s “Odder”). The second is the challenge, apparently for boys only, known as the Ninth-Grade Lawn. Any seventh grader who dares to step on it will be pounced upon by ninth grade boys and stuffed in a trash can. Max is a special target because his older brother, Jason, is a legend: “The only seventh grader ever to make it across the lawn untouched.” A senior now, Jason is star running back—and the unrelenting focus of the brothers’ football-obsessed dad, which has serious consequences. More problems arise for Max, like having to shower with classmates after gym or getting the attention of Emily Brookings, the prettiest girl in school. Max finds encouragement in sources like novels recommended by the school librarian and the support of his friends. With their help, Max might be able to pull off a win. Trine, who’s written several books for children and middle schoolers, enters sympathetically into Max’s typical junior high problems. Though often light and amusing, with comical elements like Max’s name or Halloween hijinks with friends, the story is balanced with more earnest concerns. Max’s rueful voice downplays the lawn challenge, but the ordeal could be said to serve as a hero’s journey; the school librarian is a classic wise-old-man figure, and by engaging with his reading suggestions (such as The Red Badge of Courage), Max matures his sense of self.
An entertaining, contemporary coming-of-age tale that subtly draws from an archetypal well.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-7339589-6-7
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Malamute Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Quirky and imaginative—postmodern storytelling at its best.
Friendly curiosity and a gift for naming earn a polar bear an assortment of (mostly animal) friends, adventures, mishaps, and discoveries.
Arriving at a northern ocean, Duane spies a shipwreck. Swimming out to investigate, he meets its lone occupant, C.C., a learned snowy owl whose noble goal is acquiring knowledge to apply “toward the benefit of all.” Informing Duane that he’s a polar bear, she points out a nearby cave that might suit him—it even has a mattress. Adding furnishings from the wreck—the grandfather clock’s handless, but who needs to tell time when it’s always now?—he meets a self-involved musk ox, entranced by his own reflection, who’s delighted when Duane names him “Handsome.” As he comes to understand, then appreciate their considerable diversity, Duane brings out the best in his new friends. C.C., who has difficulty reading emotions and dislikes being touched, evokes the autism spectrum. Magic, a bouncy, impulsive arctic fox, manifests ADHD. Major Puff, whose proud puffin ancestry involves courageous retreats from danger, finds a perfect companion in Twitch, a risk-aware, common-sensical hare. As illustrated, Sun Girl, a human child, appears vaguely Native, and Squint, a painter, white, but they’re sui generis: The Canadian author avoids referencing human culture. The art conveys warmth in an icy setting; animal characters suggest beloved stuffed toys, gently reinforcing the message that friendship founded on tolerance breeds comfort and safety.
Quirky and imaginative—postmodern storytelling at its best. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3341-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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