A captivating, blisteringly realistic exploration of middle school activism.
A group of middle school friends fight back against oppressive harassment and disbelieving administrators.
Dedicated comics creator Maeve Mulvaney begins eighth grade in the new “Nowhereville” Florida town where her family has relocated for her astronomer mother’s university job. Leaving Vermont was devastating—her new community seems to care more about football than the arts—but luckily, she quickly finds a great comic book shop as well as a supportive group of friends. Unfortunately, she’s also plagued by incessant bullying from classmate Robbie, who challenges her love of comics and ridicules her weight, calling her things like “Fatty-Fatty Fake Geek.” The acutely painful in-person and online bullying scenes work well, effectively encouraging readers to interrogate the high value often placed on activities like sports and to recognize and call out sexism. Maeve’s troubled relationship with her mom is compelling, and Maeve frequently challenges the pressure she feels from both her parents to avoid expressing negativity. Maeve, who is white and bisexual, has a supportive, diverse, strongly characterized friend group: New best friend Daniel is a white gay boy, and her larger friend group includes racial diversity. As Maeve grows in her power to organize against the sexism, fatphobia, and homophobia she encounters at school—and the lack of support from school leadership—readers will be satisfied by her development as an artist and advocate for herself and others.
A captivating, blisteringly realistic exploration of middle school activism. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780823458288
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A terrific premise buried beneath problem-novel tropes.
A gaggle of eighth graders find the coolest clubhouse ever.
Fulfilling the fantasies of anyone who’s ever constructed a fort in their bedroom or elsewhere, Korman hands his five middle schoolers a fully stocked bomb shelter constructed decades ago in the local woods by an eccentric tycoon and lost until a hurricane exposes the entrance. So, how to keep the hideout secret from interfering grown-ups—and, more particularly, from scary teen psychopath Jaeger Devlin? The challenge is tougher still when everyone in the central cast is saddled with something: C.J. struggles to hide injuries inflicted by the unstable stepdad his likewise abused mother persists in enabling; Jason is both caught in the middle of a vicious divorce and unable to stand up to his controlling girlfriend; Evan is not only abandoned by drug-abusing parents, but sees his big brother going to the bad thanks to Jaeger’s influence; Mitchell struggles with OCD–fueled anxieties and superstitions; and so forth. How to keep a story overtaxed with issues and conflicts from turning into a dreary slog? Spoiler alert: Neither the author nor his characters ultimately prove equal to the challenge. With the possible exception of Ricky Molina, one of the multiple narrators, everyone seems to be White.
A terrific premise buried beneath problem-novel tropes. (resources, author’s note) (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: June 28, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-62914-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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