It’s a jumble, but one that’s made up of feel-good set pieces.
In this second sequel to the Newbery Honor–winning Savvy (2008), the Beaumont family’s unusual abilities turn inside out. Steep learning curves and near catastrophes ensue.
Just as the Beaumonts decide to take in ill-tempered Grandma Pat, who is showing worrisome signs of “Old-Timer’s disease” (i.e., Alzheimer’s), 13-year-old Gypsy’s new “savvy” to glimpse (but not alter, despite her best efforts) future scenes switches to an ability to stop time—for all the universe except, as it turns out, Pat and everyone else who shares her birthday. Likewise, her formerly perfect mother turns accident-prone, her once-invisible big brother now unpredictably bursts into all-too-visible flame, and little Tucker farts and turns into a giant when upset. Nonetheless, the Beaumonts hie off to Colorado to pick up Grandma Pat and then chase her through Denver when she wanders out into a snowstorm. Law does not write for readers who like logically consistent premises and orderly plots. Nevertheless, along with turning her increasingly self-confident protagonist’s fondness for spontaneous twirling into a thematic leitmotif, she salts the narrative with wonderfully silly words (“Sardoodledom”!) and the cast with (aside from a now-requisite bully) helpful, warmhearted allies.
It’s a jumble, but one that’s made up of feel-good set pieces. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3862-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
An eminently satisfying story of family, recovery, and growing into manhood.
In this prequel to Newbery Award–winning The Crossover (2014), Alexander revisits previous themes and formats while exploring new ones.
For Charlie Bell, the future father of The Crossover’s Jordan and Josh, his father’s death alters his relationship with his mother and causes him to avoid what reminds him of his dad. At first, he’s just withdrawn, but after he steals from a neighbor, his mother packs a reluctant Charlie off to his grandparents near Washington, D.C., for the summer. His grandfather works part-time at a Boys and Girls Club where his cousin Roxie is a star basketball player. Despite his protests, she draws him into the game. His time with his grandparents deepens Charlie’s understanding of his father, and he begins to heal. “I feel / a little more normal, / like maybe he’s still here, / … in a / as long as I remember him / he’s still right here / in my heart / kind of way.” Once again, Alexander has given readers an African-American protagonist to cheer. He is surrounded by a strong supporting cast, especially two brilliant female characters, his friend CJ and his cousin Roxie, as well as his feisty and wise granddaddy. Music and cultural references from the late 1980s add authenticity. The novel in verse is enhanced by Anyabwile’s art, which reinforces Charlie’s love for comics.
An eminently satisfying story of family, recovery, and growing into manhood. (Historical verse fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-86813-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
SEEN & HEARD
A typical Patterson plot significantly elevated by its title character.
A precocious seventh-grader tries to turn over a new leaf and end her term as the class clown.
It’s New Jersey, 1990, and Jacky Hart is the middle child in a family with six other girls. Attention is hard to come by, but Jacky has earned her fair share by being the endlessly funny member of her large, white family. Unfortunately, Jacky’s teachers do not appreciate this goofball attitude. Jacky joins the school play to channel her talents creatively and discovers a passion for performing, but not all is well. Jacky's mother is overseas as a citizen soldier in the run-up to the first Gulf War, and her lifeguard father is spending way too much time with an attractive female fellow lifeguard. A lot of other things happen too, but this is typical for Patterson. His novels are made or broken not by their plots but by their lead characters, and Jacky is the best yet. Fun, smart, emotionally engaging, Jacky is a character that young readers will love spending time with. Sure, the novel could lose about 100 pages and still tell the same story, but Jacky and her sisters are so endearing readers won't feel the effects of the chubby second and third acts until long after finishing the book, and few will really care. Pop-culture references from the ’90s and the 2010s (for comparison) abound.
A typical Patterson plot significantly elevated by its title character. (Historical fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: March 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-26249-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
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