by J.N. Kelly ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2023
A well-developed story of navigating the ups and downs of life on the homefront.
A mother and daughter keep secrets from one another in this World War II–era story.
Being a lefty with a devastating submarine delivery, 14-year-old Wisconsinite Millie Bauer is not only good enough on the mound to play with the boys in sandlot games, but has caught the eye of the local high school’s baseball coach. Her love of the game is tempered, though, when she intercepts a crushing telegram announcing that her beloved big brother George has gone MIA in Italy—news that she keeps from her hardworking, recently widowed mother, Helen. This becomes easier when, sometime later, Helen suddenly begins spending so much of her free time volunteering to work with wounded soldiers down at the Red Cross facility that the two seldom see one another. Helen, it turns out, is concealing something too…but Kelly drops in enough clues that alert readers shouldn’t be too surprised by the denouement. Along with folding in plenty of baseball talk and action, the author adds enough details about daily life to give the tale a clear sense of the period. He also leads his talented young pitcher all the way to a tryout with the Minneapolis Millerettes of the All-American Girls League, though that subplot’s sudden ending makes this less a baseball story than one about small-town wartime life and the anxieties of having a loved one fighting overseas.
A well-developed story of navigating the ups and downs of life on the homefront. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781644460184
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Rowe Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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by Raina Telgemeier & illustrated by Raina Telgemeier ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2012
Brava!
From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage.
Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We’re the cool kids….He's the dork." With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer.
Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-32698-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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SEEN & HEARD
by Alan Gratz ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2017
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
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New York Times Bestseller
Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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