A winningly told story of struggle, solidarity, and optimism.
Curious, creative, and strong-willed Wadjda stages small acts of rebellion at her girls' school in Riyadh.
Eleven-year-old Wadjda isn't supposed to wear Chuck Taylor sneakers to school or sell bracelets and candy to her fellow students for extra cash. But money is tight at home, and Wadjda has always preferred to emulate tough, mischievous older girls like Fatin and Fatima rather than her pious, rule-abiding classmates. Wadjda particularly envies the freedom her childhood friend Abdullah has to roam the city on his bicycle; for Wadjda to ride a bike as a girl would not only look unseemly, but could also, as her mother explains with characteristic frankness and fear, "harm your virginity." Nevertheless, when Wadjda sees a perfect green bicycle at a toy shop, she is determined to save 800 riyals to make it hers. Wadjda's mother's struggles—a long, perilous commute to the only job she can find; Wadjda's father's search for a new wife—are juxtaposed effectively against Wadjda's own, and her alternating frustration with and compassion for her daughter's actions are palpable. Despite the restrictive environment and many setbacks, Wadjda's cleverness and determination keep the mood relatively hopeful. The author, a screenwriter, bases the novel on her first feature-length film, Wadjda.
A winningly told story of struggle, solidarity, and optimism. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-5254-2806-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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