Witty, encouraging, and perceptive.
In this adaptation of a memoir for adults, comedian and Paralympic skier Sundquist recounts how he learned to persevere after losing his leg to cancer.
Nine-year-old Josh is dismayed when Dad announces the whole family will be relocating from Virginia to Florida so Dad can attend seminary. But everything changes—including the move—when Josh is diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, necessitating the amputation of his leg. An avid soccer player, Josh must now relearn to walk with crutches and a prosthesis. He wonders how he can play sports again; he keeps falling, even when he discovers a knack for skiing. But as he grows, he realizes that the most important thing is getting right back up. At 16, he sets his sights on making the 2006 Paralympic ski team, putting his determination to the test. Though his stream-of-consciousness narration is occasionally difficult to follow, pitch-perfect kid logic renders his discussions of such tough topics as hospitalization, chemotherapy, and death alternately humorous, poignant, and insightful. While Josh candidly expresses anger and frustration, his overall pragmatism is reassuring, especially for kids navigating similar circumstances. His Christianity also comforts him. His family’s support grounds the story as, in heartbreaking and heartwarming scenes, Josh details the impact of his cancer on his parents and younger brothers. However, he emphasizes, life goes on—a sentiment illustrated particularly vividly by his hilariously awkward transition from home schooling to public high school.
Witty, encouraging, and perceptive. (Memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593621998
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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