Cheerful and empowering.
Fourteen-year-old Australian Maisie and her mum, Jo, are enthusiastic lovers of all things nerdy.
After scrimping and saving, they’re finally on their way to Maisie’s first fancon. Above all, Maisie is excited to meet her idol, Kara Bufano, an actress who plays her favorite superhero and is an amputee like her. The convention has more surprises in store, including a new crush in 15-year-old artist and fellow fan Ollie, who is nonbinary and working the con with their dad. Maisie’s leg amputation was due to cancer, which is in remission but has left her with chronic pain and fatigue. Her ongoing treatments and mobility aids are portrayed as a natural part of ordinary life, as is her bisexuality. While the characters often discuss anti-ableist messages in ways that could be more organic, the lessons carry import. The story is strongest when letting Maisie, Ollie, and Jo express their personalities. It captures an intense one-day romance bonded by fan art and instant understanding. Ultimately, just as important is the love between Maisie and Jo, a quirky and tightly bonded duo who are there for each other through thick and thin. Candy-colored art makes the busy convention a delightful world of visual excitement and discovery for Maisie. Aśka’s strong character illustrations let every emotion be clearly understood. Maisie and Jo have light-brown skin; Ollie and their dad read White.
Cheerful and empowering. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781338818802
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first
An Afghani-Australian teen named Mina earns a scholarship to a prestigious private school and meets Michael, whose family opposes allowing Muslim refugees and immigrants into the country.
Dual points of view are presented in this moving and intelligent contemporary novel set in Australia. Eleventh-grader Mina is smart and self-possessed—her mother and stepfather (her biological father was murdered in Afghanistan) have moved their business and home across Sydney in order for her to attend Victoria College. She’s determined to excel there, even though being surrounded by such privilege is a culture shock for her. When she meets white Michael, the two are drawn to each other even though his close-knit, activist family espouses a political viewpoint that, though they insist it is merely pragmatic, is unquestionably Islamophobic. Tackling hard topics head-on, Abdel-Fattah explores them fully and with nuance. True-to-life dialogue and realistic teen social dynamics both deepen the tension and provide levity. While Mina and Michael’s attraction seems at first unlikely, the pair’s warmth wins out, and readers will be swept up in their love story and will come away with a clearer understanding of how bias permeates the lives of those targeted by it.
A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first . (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-11866-7
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
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