This bass player’s coming-of-age story keeps a strong and steady beat.
Nora and her fellow band members are heading in their van to perform at an elite club in San Francisco, but Nora also has secret, hopeful, ulterior motives.
High school junior Nora is already an accomplished bass player and the only girl in a four-member band called Blue Miles. Her opportunity to join her band mates playing the Magwitch has come at a price; she has reluctantly promised her adoptive parents—high-end professionals—that in return she will do an internship in Washington, D.C., over the summer. Abandoned by her birthparents as a toddler named Summer, the olive-skinned, black-haired teenager—who is curious about her ethnic origins—has imagined that she is the child of now-famous musicians who had to give her up when they were just starting out. Nora cleverly, secretly plans the band’s van trip from Huntington Beach to San Francisco so it coincides with towns offering possible leads for her birthparent-seeking detective work. Skillful storytelling interweaves the protagonist’s passion for music, her unrequited love for a fellow band mate, and such issues as teen alcohol abuse, socio-economic differences, career choices, toxic relationships, and—of course—the nature versus nurture debate. Characters and dialogue are believable and inclusive of various ethnicities and sexual orientations. Nora’s combination of grit, humor, and vulnerability compels readers to join her on her journey of self-discovery.
This bass player’s coming-of-age story keeps a strong and steady beat. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-451-48020-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A smart, timely outing.
Two teens connect through a mysterious podcast in this sophomore effort by British author Oseman (Solitaire, 2015).
Frances Janvier is a 17-year-old British-Ethiopian head girl who is so driven to get into Cambridge that she mostly forgoes friendships for schoolwork. Her only self-indulgence is listening to and creating fan art for the podcast Universe City, “a…show about a suit-wearing student detective looking for a way to escape a sci-fi, monster-infested university.” Aled Last is a quiet white boy who identifies as “partly asexual.” When Frances discovers that Aled is the secret creator of Universe City, the two embark on a passionate, platonic relationship based on their joint love of pop culture. Their bond is complicated by Aled’s controlling mother and by Frances’ previous crush on Aled’s twin sister, Carys, who ran away last year and disappeared. When Aled’s identity is accidently leaked to the Universe City fandom, he severs his relationship with Frances, leaving her questioning her Cambridge goals and determined to win back his affection, no matter what the cost. Frances’ narration is keenly intelligent; she takes mordant pleasure in using an Indian friend’s ID to get into a club despite the fact they look nothing alike: “Gotta love white people.” Though the social-media–suffused plot occasionally lags, the main characters’ realistic relationship accurately depicts current issues of gender, race, and class.
A smart, timely outing. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-233571-5
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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