A “hard time” is what Thompson gives the grown-ups in this droll tale of two teenagers discovering that no good deed goes unpunished. Thanks to a story in her high school’s literary magazine featuring a dead teacher, Annie Ireland finds herself sentenced to five days in the local lockup as an “example,” then bundled off to a wilderness camp for hard-core offenders, and ultimately locked up in an underground behavior-mod cell. Fortunately, she has two loyal, if distinctly unconventional, allies: best friend Nemo Skank, nicknamed Arby, for “Roach Boy” (don’t ask); and Pantagruel Primo, a gnome temporarily inhabiting the body of a baby doll assigned to Annie’s care in Life Skills class. As usual, the author contrasts decent, levelheaded teens with savagely caricatured adults, meanwhile using the former (plus, in this case, Primo) as mouthpieces to dispense commonsense advice about coping with the perils of adolescence. Thanks to a wacky cast and situations that sometimes take an ominous turn, that advice never turns over-earnest—and Annie and Arby, a likable couple if ever there was one, come through it all triumphantly, wiser but not at all sadder. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85424-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2003
It’s the tale of one young man and his choices, which many young readers will appreciate and enjoy.
“The rules: If she hollers, she is mine. If she needs to be changed, she is always mine. In the dictionary next to ‘sitter,’ there is not a picture of Grandma. It’s time to grow up. Too late, you’re out of time. Be a grown-up.” Sixteen-year-old Bobby has met the love of his life: his daughter.
Told in alternating chapters that take place “then” and “now,” Bobby relates the hour-by-hour tribulations and joys of caring for a newborn, and the circumstances that got him there. Managing to cope with support, but little help, from his single mother (who wants to make sure he does this on his own), Bobby struggles to maintain friendships and a school career while giving his daughter the love and care she craves from him at every moment. By narrating from a realistic first-person voice, Johnson manages to convey a story that is always complex, never preachy. The somewhat pat ending doesn’t diminish the impact of this short, involving story.
It’s the tale of one young man and his choices, which many young readers will appreciate and enjoy. (Fiction. YA)Pub Date: June 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-84922-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gripping and authentic in the ways it portrays grief and shows how moving forward means having to let go.
After her father dies, a teen drops out of high school, loses her job, and embarks on a four-week journey through the California backcountry.
Everyone in the Bear Creek Community Service program is assigned a nickname as part of starting over with “a blank slate.” No one needs to know your past or whether you’re there by choice or court order. All that matters is the present: working on hiking trail maintenance. For Atlas James, or Maps, as she’s now known, it’s an escape from the poor decisions she’s made since her father’s death from cancer and a tribute to him. One of his dying wishes was to hike the Western Sierra Trail with her—the same one she’ll now be spending the summer working on with Books, Junior, Sugar, and King. Maps is immediately drawn to group leader King, and as secrets are revealed, the two act as magnets, attracting and repelling one another. Maps’ tangible grief is centered as she copes with the loss of the only person who understood her and always had her back. Gradually, as they clear brush, dig drainage, and battle the backcountry and their pasts, a sense of family is forged among the crew. The palpable romantic tension between King and Maps propels this beautifully written story. Junior is coded Black; other major characters read white.
Gripping and authentic in the ways it portrays grief and shows how moving forward means having to let go. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780063088580
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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