Keenly observed details and memorable characters make this a sitcomworthy addition to the prankster pantheon.
Can a mischief-maker and a do-good hipster find common ground?
Soren’s best friend and pranking co-conspirator, Alex, has moved away from their small hometown of Camelot, Minnesota. Without her, Soren may give up pranking altogether. Things start to look up when Soren’s cousin Flynn arrives from Brooklyn to “study abroad” in Camelot. But Flynn, who loves green tea, yoga, and writing “inclusive” banjo tunes based on popular religious songs, is nothing like the best friend Soren imagined he would be. As the cousins start sixth grade at Camelot Elementary School and Flynn’s unique flair and mad soccer skills translate to instant popularity, Soren gets the urge to prank again. At first the pranks seem like innocent fun, but when they start hurting other people—including Flynn—are they still worth the laugh? YA author Hattemer’s first dip into middle-grade fiction is over-the-top hilarity with quick pacing, sure to engage Diary of a Wimpy Kid aficionados despite the absence of illustrations. The cast is majority white, with diversity implied by character names. Ms. Hutchins, the cousins’ science teacher, is not only out to her students (her wife is causally mentioned), but vegan—excellent, if slightly underdeveloped, additions.
Keenly observed details and memorable characters make this a sitcomworthy addition to the prankster pantheon. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1846-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.
Basketball-playing twins find challenges to their relationship on and off the court as they cope with changes in their lives.
Josh Bell and his twin, Jordan, aka JB, are stars of their school basketball team. They are also successful students, since their educator mother will stand for nothing else. As the two middle schoolers move to a successful season, readers can see their differences despite the sibling connection. After all, Josh has dreadlocks and is quiet on court, and JB is bald and a trash talker. Their love of the sport comes from their father, who had also excelled in the game, though his championship was achieved overseas. Now, however, he does not have a job and seems to have health problems the parents do not fully divulge to the boys. The twins experience their first major rift when JB is attracted to a new girl in their school, and Josh finds himself without his brother. This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells. While Josh relates the story, readers get a full picture of major and minor players. The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story.
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch. (Verse fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-10771-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...
This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.
Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
