The vivid historical setting of this short and satisfying read will leave readers feeling they have experienced life in...
With the abundance of stories about a boy and his dog, it’s refreshing to see a tale of a girl and her dog.
Outspoken Kizzy Ann Stamps is used to overcoming difficulties, from navigating the prejudice in her town to coping with the attention brought on by the scar on her right cheek. Now a new hurdle has arisen for Kizzy Ann: integration. Armed with a belief in facing problems head-on, Kizzy Ann writes to her new teacher, sharing that much of her strength comes from her extraordinary border collie, Shag. So Kizzy Ann is disheartened when she finds that Shag is ineligible to compete in dog shows. But hope unexpectedly comes in the form of neighbor Donald McKenna. Under his guidance, they train to enter a dog trial—a perfect choice for a “no-bow” girl and dog like Kizzy Ann and Shag...if Kizzy Ann can enter, despite the discrimination that would block her path. Through Kizzy Ann’s letters to her teacher (from July 1963 to May 1964), Watts weaves a powerful story of strength and self-acceptance in the face of injustice. Though her introspective narration slips in and out of an adult voice, it always presents a strong, thoughtful and likable protagonist.
The vivid historical setting of this short and satisfying read will leave readers feeling they have experienced life in Kizzy Ann’s world. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5895-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A warm, real, and heartfelt tale.
Sent to stay with her aunt and uncle in Colby, North Carolina, an angry girl makes the same wish daily.
Charlie’s daddy’s in jail, her mama stays in bed all day, and her older sister’s living with a friend. Daily, the almost-11 white girl wishes for her broken family to heal. (The many ways she wishes form something of a catalog of folk and family traditions and are delightful all by themselves.) When the social worker sends her to live with Bertha and Gus, Charlie feels like “a loser that nobody wanted” and hates living with total strangers in a hillbilly town. Bertha and Gus, on the other hand, seem truly thrilled to have Charlie with them, even when she’s rude, sulking, or getting into trouble at school. Charlie doesn’t know what to make of affable, white Howard, the class geek, who walks with a limp and befriends her even though she ignores him. With Bertha and Gus, Charlie finds a stable, loving home. With Howard, Charlie finds a steadfast friend who helps her catch a stray dog she names Wishbone. After weeks living with Bertha and Gus, playing with Howard and Wishbone, and slowly fitting into Colby, Charlie learns Mama wants her to come home. But where is home? Speaking in an honest voice revealing her hurt, resentment, and vulnerability, Charlie explains how her wish comes true.
A warm, real, and heartfelt tale. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30273-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Readers will find a powerful window into the past and, unfortunately, a way-too-accurate mirror of the present.
A quiet but stirring historical novel about the awkward, thrilling, and often painful moments that make middle school a pivotal time.
It’s 1971, and best friends Jamila, Josie, and Francesca are excited to start seventh grade. But when their school district decides to bus the students in their northern Queens neighborhood to a middle school in predominantly black southern Queens in an attempt to desegregate New York City schools, their trio threatens to fall apart. Though their multicultural identities in a predominantly white neighborhood have united them in the past—Jamila is white and Bajan, Josie is Latinx and Jamaican, Francesca is black and white—their families’ and community’s divisions over the new policy chip away at their camaraderie. Along with all of the usual adolescent milestones, including first love, juggling old friendships and new, and moments of burgeoning independence from parents, Budhos deftly explores the tensions that pulled at the seams of the fraught and divided city during this time. Jamila’s narration is thoughtful, capturing the growing pains of seventh grade and the injustices, big and small, that young adolescents face. She portrays with nuance the ways multiracial identities, socio-economic status, microaggressions, and interracial relationships can impact and shape identity.
Readers will find a powerful window into the past and, unfortunately, a way-too-accurate mirror of the present. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-553-53422-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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