A timeless and affecting, slightly paranormal exploration of familial attachments.
Nine-year-old Julian is gifted both emotionally and intellectually, but these assets come at a sometimes-distressing cost.
He, his 14-year-old sister, Pookie, and his two moms, Mom and Joan, all apparently white, have just moved to rural Maine to open a bed and breakfast—and also to get Julian, who has a heart condition, out of a difficult school environment. He’s tormented by anxieties, nightmares, Mom’s severe overprotectiveness (somewhat offset by Joan’s more relaxed parenting style), and especially by their deteriorating relationship with Pookie, who seems always to be angry these days. He manages to cope by immersing himself in his passion, astronomy. After a neighbor threatens to sue the family over an addition to their new house, Julian befriends the elderly, grieving white man, bereft after his wife’s death. In return, “Mr. X” decides to help Julian overcome his paralyzing fear of swimming. Julian gently narrates this immersive tale, Erskine employing Julian's “uni-sensor” abilities (a quasi-magical, extrasensory connection with others) to reveal richly nuanced characters. It’s only near the conclusion that he discloses just how extraordinary his bond with others can be. Julian’s Facts and Random Thoughts (“FARTS,” natch), represented as sidebars in his handwriting, add insight into the boy’s psyche but also provide fascinating tidbits of trivia.
A timeless and affecting, slightly paranormal exploration of familial attachments. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-14851-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Rich, complex, and confidently voiced.
Lucy finds solace in her late mother’s passion for shark biology during a summer that brings a new grief.
First-person narrator Lucy and neighbor Fred are compiling a field guide to animals they find near their Rockport, Massachusetts, home. Lucy is the artist, Fred the scientist, and their lifelong friendship is only just hinting that it could become something more. Lucy’s mother, who died of a brain aneurysm when Lucy was 7, five years earlier in 1991, was a recognized shark biologist; her father is a police diver. When a great white is snagged by a local fisherman—a family friend—video footage of an interview with Lucy’s mother surfaces on the news, and Lucy longs to know more. But then another loved one dies, drowned in a quarry accident, and it is Lucy’s father who recovers the body—in their small community it seems everyone is grappling with the pain. Lucy’s persistence in learning about the anatomy of sharks in order to draw them is a kind of homage to those she’s lost. Most of the characters are white; a marine scientist woman of color and protégée of Lucy’s mother plays a key role. Allen offers, through Lucy’s voice, a look at the intersection of art, science, friendship, and love in a way that is impressively nuanced and realistic while offering the reassurance of connection.
Rich, complex, and confidently voiced. (Historical fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3160-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Winning views of a family pulling together, of young people stumbling into adolescence, and of an entertaining if...
Winning a competitive eating contest is David’s only hope of avoiding being grounded for life after he does something stupid with his mother’s credit card.
Already an avid eater and a fan of the “sport,” David Miller, 14, figures that he’s really going to have to up his game after accidently spending $2,000 in an online auction for what is billed as the very hot-dog half that cost pro eater Jooky Garafalo last year’s Nathan’s Famous contest. Fortunately, local pizzeria Pigorino’s is sponsoring a competition at the Iowa State Fair with a $5,000 first prize. Unfortunately, David will have to beat out not only a roster of gifted amateurs to make and win the finals, but also a pair of professionals—notably the renowned but unscrupulous El Gurgitator. As much gourmet as gourmand, David not only vividly chronicles awe-inspiring gustatory feats as he gears up and passes through qualifiers, but describes food with unseemly intensity: “Disks of pepperoni shimmer and glisten on a sea of molten mozzarella.” Even better, though, is the easy, natural way he interacts with Mal, a younger brother whose neurological disability (the term “autistic” is banned from family discourse) transforms but does not conceal a rich internal life. Other subplots, such as a developing relationship between David’s longtime friends Hayden (who is evidently white) and Korean-American Cyn, further enrich a tale in which his own tests and his loving, white family’s determined quest to discover what they dub “Mal’s Rules” both result in thrilling, hard-won triumphs.
Winning views of a family pulling together, of young people stumbling into adolescence, and of an entertaining if controversial pursuit, “reverse-eating events” and all. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9070-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
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