An engaging sports story but not a home run for transgender representation. (Fiction. 8-12)
A transgender boy steps up to the plate to help his baseball team beat their rivals in the summer playoffs.
Caz Cadman, baseball ace, moves from Toronto to Redburn, Washington, with his family for a fresh start as a boy. He knows who he is, and now, with the support of his parents, he can be himself in a place where no one knows his history. Summer baseball tryouts place him on the Ravens, a team with a fierce rivalry with the Rockets. At first, Caz worries his teammates won’t take the game as seriously as he does, but they quickly band together and learn to play as a smart, fast, and tricky unit (just as ravens do). While the baseball story succeeds, the trans representation struggles. Amid conflict with the bullies on the Rockets, Caz holds onto concerns about what his new friends will think if they find out the truth about his past. While Caz’s parents accept him, his entire baseball team back in Toronto had turned against him, and during the climax, Caz is publicly outed before he’s ready. In seeking answers about himself, Caz turns to the internet, and the articles he finds fall back on the tired born-in-the-wrong-body narrative. Overall, the story lacks pride in identity and reinforces trope-y associations of secrecy and shame with trans people. It assumes a white default.
An engaging sports story but not a home run for transgender representation. (Fiction. 8-12) (Fiction8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1831-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Quirky and imaginative—postmodern storytelling at its best.
Friendly curiosity and a gift for naming earn a polar bear an assortment of (mostly animal) friends, adventures, mishaps, and discoveries.
Arriving at a northern ocean, Duane spies a shipwreck. Swimming out to investigate, he meets its lone occupant, C.C., a learned snowy owl whose noble goal is acquiring knowledge to apply “toward the benefit of all.” Informing Duane that he’s a polar bear, she points out a nearby cave that might suit him—it even has a mattress. Adding furnishings from the wreck—the grandfather clock’s handless, but who needs to tell time when it’s always now?—he meets a self-involved musk ox, entranced by his own reflection, who’s delighted when Duane names him “Handsome.” As he comes to understand, then appreciate their considerable diversity, Duane brings out the best in his new friends. C.C., who has difficulty reading emotions and dislikes being touched, evokes the autism spectrum. Magic, a bouncy, impulsive arctic fox, manifests ADHD. Major Puff, whose proud puffin ancestry involves courageous retreats from danger, finds a perfect companion in Twitch, a risk-aware, common-sensical hare. As illustrated, Sun Girl, a human child, appears vaguely Native, and Squint, a painter, white, but they’re sui generis: The Canadian author avoids referencing human culture. The art conveys warmth in an icy setting; animal characters suggest beloved stuffed toys, gently reinforcing the message that friendship founded on tolerance breeds comfort and safety.
Quirky and imaginative—postmodern storytelling at its best. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3341-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
A tender coming-of-age tale with special resonance for nature lovers.
A novel in verse centered on a young girl who moves from India to Rhode Island in the wake of her parents’ divorce.
Geetha finds herself bullied by her schoolmates for her clothes and her accent and missing everything about home: her extended family, her music tutor, her dog, and, above all, her father. Meanwhile, her mother, grappling with depression, worries about making ends meet and building a new life in America. Still, playing her flute anchors Geetha amid the turmoil. When she discovers an injured harp seal pup on the beach, she and her new friend Miguel (who’s of Mexican descent) alert the authorities, who rescue the animal and bring him to a sanctuary. The experience brings her closer to Miguel—a child of divorce like her. As Geetha and Miguel visit the pup, whom they name Santo, Geetha’s inspired to learn more about seals and the plight they face due to climate change. At times, the verse falls a bit flat, though Geetha’s emotions ring true, as do the little moments that remind Geetha that she’s an outsider. The story comes to vivid life as Geetha draws parallels between herself and Santo—both feeling lost and adrift—and organizes a cleanup of the beach. Venkatraman closes with an especially poignant author’s note in which she discusses her own experience as a woman of color in STEM.
A tender coming-of-age tale with special resonance for nature lovers. (Verse novel. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780593112502
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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