An engaging story of friendship, music, and romance.
Self-doubt has stopped talented high school junior Darren from singing publicly.
Darren’s guidance counselor asks him why he’s no longer in the church choir and school chorus. Despite his excuses, “there’s a singing-sized hole in the middle of the room,” and she can see that. Meanwhile, best friend Justin urges Darren to ask out Delia, his crush who has a popular podcast, or move on. When Darren learns that Delia is holding a contest for a theme song for her podcast, he writes and performs a song declaring his fondness for her. It impresses his friends—and one of them, in hopes of playing matchmaker, submits the recording anonymously without Darren’s permission. When the song goes viral, everyone, and Delia in particular, wants to know who the mystery singer is. Darren’s reasons for avoiding singing are revealed gradually, keeping readers invested. Featuring caring friends and loving family, this story centering Black characters and narrated by Darren is one of normalcy, introspection, growth, and love. It shows a more tender, vulnerable side of Black American teen males that is not portrayed enough in YA literature. Darren ultimately finds his way back to doing what he loves and for all the right reasons. Absorbing, humorous, and honest, the novel ends on a satisfyingly high note.
An engaging story of friendship, music, and romance. (Fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9780063217553
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Overall, the blurred magic/technology boundary gives a compelling flavor to an adventure well worth reading.
A ghost dragon sends Kai and his spirit pig on a quest to rescue the princess of a cyberpunk China-analogue.
Kai’s grown apart from his friends since the adventure that brought him money and the friendship of Princess Lian. At least he still sees his best friend Yún daily during their shared apprenticeship, but he can't talk to her without arguing. Now the king of Lóng City is gravely ill, the magic flux powering the city's talk-phones and electronics is failing and Kai's mother is missing. His unwilling quest to save the day takes Kai across the Seventy Kingdoms all the way to the mysterious Phoenix Empire. It's a good thing Yún joins him, because Kai simply isn't clever enough to deal with all the bureaucracy the journey entails, from taxes to passports. They travel by foot, pony and luxurious train to find Princess Lian, who can surely help them. As an adventurer, Kai is on the passive side and tends to let the world happen to him, but this is a minor quibble. He also frequently refers to the adventure that brought him together with his now-estranged friends, but since those events were from a short story ("Pig, Crane, Fox: Three Hearts Unfolding" from the fantasy anthology Magic in the Mirrorstone, edited by Steve Berman, 2008), readers are more likely to be frustrated then familiar.
Overall, the blurred magic/technology boundary gives a compelling flavor to an adventure well worth reading. (Fantasy/cyberpunk. 13-15)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-670-01278-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Titillated teens will pass this guilty pleasure on to their friends, but they may advise skimming all but a few memorable...
Perhaps inspired by V.C. Andrews' infamous Flowers in the Attic, British author Suzuma spins a tawdry tale of an illicit brother-and-sister relationship.
Lochan and Maya, the oldest of five siblings, narrate in alternating chapters. Their mother, an alcoholic, neglects the children, instead spending her time and money on clothing, drinking and dates with her boss. Caring for their younger siblings is chaotic and draining, a fact impressed upon readers both by heavy-handed exposition and by repetitive food disputes, bickering and belligerent outbursts from angry, defiant and reckless middle child Kit, by far the best-developed character. Over 100 pages pass before Lochan and Maya discover their feelings for each other. Though the author spares no cliché in evoking their tragically star-crossed love (Lochan even laments aloud, "How can something so wrong feel so right?"), she expertly manipulates tension, creating both pathos ("I can think of no other kind of love that is so totally rejected") and urgency ("Being with you every day but not being able to do anything...[i]t's like this cancer growing inside my body"), then delivering sizzling, multi-page frenzies of kissing, touching and more in the pair's rare moments of privacy.
Titillated teens will pass this guilty pleasure on to their friends, but they may advise skimming all but a few memorable scenes. (Fiction. 14-16)Pub Date: June 28, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-1995-7
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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