by Joan Lowery Nixon ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2000
Abbie Thompson is having a rough year—her professor father has left Abbie’s mother for a younger woman, her mother is depressed, and her little brother is angry all the time. To top it all off, Abbie is being punished for one of the stupidest things she’s ever done in all of her 17 years. After following her father to his girlfriend’s house and seeing them kiss, Abbie angrily threw rocks through the girlfriend’s window, smashing the glass and getting herself arrested. The judge assigns Abbie, a conscientious and usually law-abiding girl, to a volunteer program that matches up teenagers with elderly women to keep them company, help them run errands, and generally keep an eye on the older women. Perhaps to remind Abbie that this is meant to be punishment, Abbie is assigned to a particularly cantankerous, demanding old woman, Edna Merkel, who makes Abbie’s life miserable with her demands and unpredictable moods. When Mrs. Merkel becomes involved in a group that sets out to thwart con men who target senior citizens, she puts herself and her young companion in danger. While the story is fast-paced and involving, many of the characterizations are weak and one-dimensional. Abbie is too much of a pushover, letting herself be manipulated by Mrs. Merkel to an unrealistic extent. The father is so insensitive and so uncaring about his children that it strains credulity; and Mrs. Merkel is so nasty, rude, and selfish that it’s hard to believe anyone would put up with her behavior for more than a few days. A readable story, but certainly not Nixon at her best. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: May 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32567-3
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2000
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by Daniel Aleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2021
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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by Scott Reintgen ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2023
Truly fantastic.
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This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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