A winter adventure that should have skipped a print version and gone straight to TV as an after-school special.
Mother Nature battles a girl and her motley crew of sled dogs to a draw in the frozen landscape of eastern Ontario.
Forecasts of a winter storm send Hannah’s Army Reservist father to answer the call of duty, igniting a series of poor choices and near misses for his teenage daughter. In a fit of pique over spending school holidays at the family’s rural cabin, Hannah accidentally breaks her mother’s supply of insulin ampoules. Accompanied by a guilty conscience and four family dogs, Hannah sets out to save the day by dog sledding to the nearest neighbor for help. Unfortunately, the first leg of her endeavor ends with Hannah being greeted by a rifle-wielding woman having combat flashbacks. Hannah escapes with her life and Peter, a recalcitrant teenage passenger whose main contributions to the mission are sarcasm and his ability to start a fire. Anything that could go wrong does, but Hannah keeps moving forward in a learn-as-you-go adventure where only the two lead dogs have any idea what they’re doing. Below zero temperatures do nothing to warm us to either Hannah or Peter, whose snarly personalities wear as thin as the ice one of the dogs falls through. Hannah’s mother is Korean and her father is white; other characters follow a white default.
A winter adventure that should have skipped a print version and gone straight to TV as an after-school special. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4597-4300-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dundurn
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 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
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
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