Oates’s most recent foray into YA fiction won’t disappoint fans of her teen writing, especially those who loved Big Mouth and Ugly Girl (2003). After surviving a car accident in which her mother dies, 15-year-old Jenna refuses her father’s offer to live with him, choosing instead to live with her aunt and uncle. Although she recovers from her extensive physical injuries, Jenna still must cope with Post-traumatic stress–like symptoms. As many teens under severe emotional stress are apt to do, Jenna makes friends with the wrong crowd, and then dabbles with drugs. Her risky behaviors eventually draw her into an extremely dangerous situation from which she narrowly escapes. Throughout the story, Jenna finds herself inexplicably drawn to Crow, a mysterious boy with a haunted past of his own, causing readers to hope that he will be the key to her recovery. Oates’s variation on a stream-of-consciousness style is appropriate for the voice of a character who spends so much time in her own head, but the ending is wrapped up a bit too simply considering all of Jenna’s issues. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-073525-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HarperTempest
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2006
A realistic romance illuminating the difficulties of experiencing discrimination while reaching for a dream.
Zelda Bailey-Cho dreams of comedy fame, but are the obstacles worth the fight?
Will the rules of improv help Zelda through a turbulent summer at the improv camp founded by her idol? Zelda is surprised to learn she’s one of just five girls in a sea of 200 male campers. Luckily, the girls in Gilda Radner cabin quickly form an emotional support system. Talented and driven, Zelda earns a spot on the camp’s elite improv team and falls for her tall, blond coach, Ben. At first excited and then confused and horrified, Zelda struggles to manage her cabin mates’ high expectations, Ben’s advances, and unchecked sexual harassment from her male teammates. She always knew that being female in the comedy world would be challenging, but how can she balance standing up for herself and being a trailblazer? Strong character development and exploration of timely topics make this novel shine despite its being somewhat weakened by unbelievable plot points and a tidy ending. Thoughtfully created diverse characters, who are specifically described and involved in both queer and straight relationships, model navigating social situations without assuming norms, whether relating to sexual identity labels or family structure. Most heartening of all, Zelda’s second chance at love provides a healthy counterpoint to Ben’s abusive behavior. Curly haired Zelda, who is white, is part of a blended Korean Scottish family.
A realistic romance illuminating the difficulties of experiencing discrimination while reaching for a dream. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4084-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A celebratory song of the sea.
A shrimpy 13-year-old with a super-sized passion for marine life comes of age during a summer of discovery on the tidal flats of Puget Sound.
Miles O’Malley—Squid Boy to his friends—doesn’t mind being short. It’s other things that keep him awake at night, like his parents’ talk of divorce and his increasingly lustful thoughts about the girl next door. Mostly, though, it’s the ocean’s siren call that steals his sleep. During one of his moonlit kayak excursions, Miles comes across the rarest sighting ever documented in the northern Pacific: the last gasp of a Giant Squid. Scientists are stunned. The media descend. As Miles continues to stumble across other oddball findings, including two invasive species that threaten the eco-balance of Puget Sound, a nearby new-age cult’s interest in Miles prompts a headline in USA Today: Kid Messiah? Soon tourists are flocking to the tidal flats, crushing crustaceans underfoot and painting their bodies with black mud. Dodging disingenuous journalists, deluded disciples and the death-throes of his parents’ marriage, Miles tries to recapture some semblance of normality. He reads up on the G-spot and the Kama Sutra to keep pace with his pals’ bull sessions about sex (hilariously contributing “advanced” details that gross the other boys out). But Miles’s aquatic observations cannot be undone, and as summer draws to a close, inhabitants of Puget Sound prepare for a national blitzkrieg of media and scientific attention and the highest tide in 40 years, all of which threatens everything Miles holds dear. On land, the rickety plot could have used some shoring up. Miles is just too resourceful for the reader to believe his happiness—or that of those he loves—is ever at stake. But when Miles is on the water, Lynch’s first novel becomes a stunning light show, both literal, during phosphorescent plankton blooms, and metaphorical, in the poetic fireworks Lynch’s prose sets off as he describes his clearly beloved Puget Sound.
A celebratory song of the sea.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2005
ISBN: 1-58234-605-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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