An illustrated collection of poems seeks to celebrate teen engagement with music in its many forms. Members of a garage band trash talk each other, a girl plays “Double Dutch with the Lord” to Aretha Franklin, a boy plays air guitar to the radio, another boy wishes devoutly for a trumpet but must settle for tuba in the school band. The poems burst with the energetic bravado of adolescence, frequently invoking the pantheon for inspiration: “In my sleep, I am / Moon / Bonham / Buddy / Blakey / 10,000 / Charlie / Watts / of / power / I am the drummer— / ‘What? OK, Mom, I’m coming!’ ” Teen concerns embed themselves in the poems, from anxiety before a performance to a desire to impress the opposite sex to parental woes: “Ba DA da da DA. / Got a brand-new guitar. / Ba DA da da DA. / Just the other day. / Ba DA da da DA. / Played it for five minutes. / Ba DA da da DA. / Then my mom took it away.” It’s a fairly lengthy collection—24 poems—and although there is some nod to girls, they by and large (and most successfully) operate from a male perspective. Newcomer Adoff’s enthusiasm for his subject comes endearingly to the fore in the section of “Backnotes,” in which he identifies the artists alluded to and includes specific selections for listening. This enthusiasm carries the collection through an inevitable unevenness and at times forced maintenance of the title motif. The illustrations, by newcomer French, are a sort of neo–Jazz Age/comic-book pastiche. The palette is dominated by purple and orange, with vigorous splatters of color as a background for boldly outlined figures. It’s a risky enterprise, a picture book specifically aimed at teens, but the striking graphics and teen-friendly subject may well make it a viable one. (Picture book/poetry. 12+)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-525-46949-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2002
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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