Vulnerable and affirming.
A nonbinary ice-skating champion loses balance as insecurities about money push her to excel at the expense of being true to herself and honest with her mom.
Rising off a first-place triumph at the U.S. Nationals, 12-year-old figure skater Ana Jin leaps into a new level of training for the next season. She gets to skate at a better rink, take off-ice classes, and work with a prestigious choreographer. Despite the thrill of achieving her dreams, high skating fees weigh on Ana’s mind. Ana’s White Jewish father left when she was small and is not part of her life; she lives with her Chinese American mom who converted to Judaism. Afraid to let anyone down and desperate to save her single mom money, Ana grapples in secret with her discomfort around her new princess-themed routine and her developing questions about her gender identity. This coming-out story departs from linear narratives about self-discovery and transitioning. Ana doesn’t begin the story knowing the word nonbinary or even aware that transgender people exist; she awakens to new possibilities about her identity after meeting Hayden, a White transgender boy. Friendship conflict boils in the background as Ana’s most present worries cause her to neglect her best friend. Family relationships and communication also play a significant role. The resolution leaves Ana’s future open to future self-exploration within the comfort of a secure support system.
Vulnerable and affirming. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-45861-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series.
Beloved gorilla Ivan becomes a father to rambunctious twins in this finale to a quartet that began with 2012’s Newbery Award–winning The One and Only Ivan.
Life hasn’t always been easy for silverback gorilla Ivan, who’s spent most of his life being mistreated in captivity. Now he’s living in a wildlife sanctuary, but he still gets to see his two best friends. Young elephant Ruby lives in the grassy habitat next door, and former stray dog Bob has a home with one of the zookeepers. All three were rescued from the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan’s expanded world includes fellow gorilla Kinyani—the two are about to become parents, and Ivan is revisiting the traumas of his past in light of what he wants the twins to know. When the subject inevitably comes up, Applegate’s trust and respect for readers is evident. She doesn’t shy away from hard truths as Ivan wrestles with the fact that poachers killed his family. Readers will need the context provided by knowledge of the earlier books to feel the full emotional impact of this story. The rushed ending unfortunately falls flat, detracting from the central message that a complex life can still contain hope. Final art not seen.
Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series. (gorilla games, glossary, author’s note) (Verse fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780063221123
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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