by Gwen Cole ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2017
This emotional journey for a time-traveling guy and his now–girl-next-door is better suited to romance readers than...
There’s no time like the present in this time-travel romance.
Teenager Harper Croft, apparently abandoned by her (inexplicably) aloof mother, moves to Iowa to live with her widower uncle, Jasper. It’s been six years since she saw her childhood buddy, now-17-year-old Kale Jackson, but their friendship soon turns into romance. But Kale finds it hard to be present, mentally and literally. He’s traumatized by his seemingly uncontrollable and increasingly frequent travels through time, having spent several months traveling back to World War II. With unexplainable absences and injuries, Kale has earned his gruff dad’s wrath and brother’s dismissal. Kale’s baffling unwillingness to demonstrate his ability is as logically flawed as the oversimplified explanation of time travel, but here, it’s cast as neither superpower nor curse but a metaphor for coming-of-age. Each of the white protagonists (also co-narrators) deals with familial woes, but girl gamer Harper is far less angst-y than broody mechanic Kale. Debut author Cole focuses more on exhilarating relationships than excellent adventures; she uses the slow pacing to develop her characters but tends toward repetitive descriptions and moralizing.
This emotional journey for a time-traveling guy and his now–girl-next-door is better suited to romance readers than science-fiction aficionados. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-0766-5
Page Count: 332
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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by J.K. Rowling ; illustrated by Mary GrandPré ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2003
None
None
The Potternaut rolls on, picking up more size than speed but propelling 15-year-old Harry through more hard tests of character and magical ability. Rowling again displays her ability to create both likable and genuinely scary characters, most notable among the latter being a pair of Dementors who accost Harry in a dark alley in the opening chapter. Even more horrible, Ministry of Magic functionary Dolores Umbridge descends upon Hogwarts with a tinkly laugh, a taste in office decor that runs to kitten paintings, and the authority, soon exercised, to torture students, kick Harry off the Quidditch team, fire teachers, and even to challenge Dumbledore himself. Afflicted with sudden fits of adolescent rage, Harry also has worries, from upcoming exams and recurrent eerie dreams to the steadfast refusal of the Magical World's bureaucracy to believe that Voldemort has returned. Steadfast allies remain, including Hermione, whose role here is largely limited to Chief Explainer, and a ragtag secret order of adults formed to protect him from dangers, which they characteristically keep to themselves until he finds out about them the hard way. Constructed, like Goblet of Fire, of multiple, weakly connected plot lines and rousing, often hilarious set pieces, all set against a richly imagined backdrop, this involves its characters once again in plenty of adventures while moving them a step closer to maturity. And it's still impossible to predict how it's all going to turn out.
None (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: July 1, 2003
ISBN: 9780439358064
Page Count: 896
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003
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by Dusti Bowling ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2019
Those preparing to “slay the sucktastic beast known as high school” will particularly appreciate this spirited read.
In the sequel to Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus (2017), Aven Green confronts her biggest challenge yet: surviving high school without arms.
Fourteen-year-old Aven has just settled into life at Stagecoach Pass with her adoptive parents when everything changes again. She’s entering high school, which means that 2,300 new kids will stare at her missing arms—and her feet, which do almost everything hands can (except, alas, air quotes). Aven resolves to be “blasé” and field her classmates’ pranks with aplomb, but a humiliating betrayal shakes her self-confidence. Even her friendships feel unsteady. Her friend Connor’s moved away and made a new friend who, like him, has Tourette’s syndrome: a girl. And is Lando, her friend Zion’s popular older brother, being sweet to Aven out of pity—or something more? Bowling keenly depicts the universal awkwardness of adolescence and the particular self-consciousness of navigating a disability. Aven’s “armless-girl problems” realistically grow thornier in this outing, touching on such tough topics as death and aging, but warm, quirky secondary characters lend support. A few preachy epiphanies notwithstanding, Aven’s honest, witty voice shines—whether out-of-reach vending-machine snacks are “taunting” her or she’s nursing heartaches. A subplot exploring Aven’s curiosity about her biological father resolves with a touching twist. Most characters, including Aven, appear white; Zion and Lando are black.
Those preparing to “slay the sucktastic beast known as high school” will particularly appreciate this spirited read. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3329-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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