Although overlong and narrowly aimed at romantically minded early-adolescent girls, this story will reward tenacious readers...
After 13-year-old Mabry Collins is dropped by her heartthrob, Nick Wainwright, (her 19th straight dumping in a row), Thad Bell, a boy with his own grudge against Nick, promises to teach her how to become the yin to Nick’s yang.
Thad’s lessons come with a condition, though: once Nick is smitten, Mabry has to promise to break his heart. It’s a cute premise, though the problems the two protagonists face are so disproportionately weighted that its execution feels uneven. Mabry, Stewart’s one-note histrionic protagonist, primarily spends her days obsessing about love, picking up her exaggerated romantic ideas from La Vida Rica, a telenovela she watches religiously. On the other hand, Thad’s father recently died in an accident that also left his mother disabled, and he’s still reeling from the loss as well as his new familial responsibilities. So while Mabry’s problems are essentially trivial, Thad’s are deeply profound, which makes it difficult to summon up sympathy for the tediously self-involved heroine. Still, Thad and Mabry have a nice give-and-take—they slowly develop a real connection—and as Mabry grows emotionally, readers’ impatience should largely dissipate.
Although overlong and narrowly aimed at romantically minded early-adolescent girls, this story will reward tenacious readers with a touching conclusion. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7181-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A broadly appealing mix of the tragic and droll, comforting, disturbing, exotic and universal, with nary a clinker in the...
A big but consistently engaging pro bono anthology of authors with direct or indirect Japanese “heritage or experience.”
The 36 tales (all but six of which are new) were gathered as contributions to the relief effort for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. They feature Japanese—or, frequently, haafu, half-Japanese—teenagers engaged in the business of growing up. Two stories are set in the past: a Pearl Harbor episode from Graham Salisbury and Mariko Nagai’s probing free-verse view of the prejudice and internment faced by Japanese Americans shortly thereafter. Otherwise nearly all of the stories have contemporary settings. Only one story refers directly to the 2011 disaster; in the rest, situations and experiences blend familiar tropes with some that may be new to U.S. audiences. Some concern making or missing friends and coping with bullies or demanding parents. Others find their characters reading absorbing cellphone mini-novels on a long commute to school or finding common ground through dance and kendo as well as baseball. Fantasy also makes a strong showing in tales of dragons and eerie samurai dolls, a supernatural Lost Property Office, a magic toaster that predicts the manner of one’s death and more. The closing capsule bios will be particularly helpful to young readers on this side of the Pacific.
A broadly appealing mix of the tragic and droll, comforting, disturbing, exotic and universal, with nary a clinker in the bunch. (glossary) (Short stories. 11-13)Pub Date: March 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61172-006-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rushed revolution happens at lightning speed, leaving no time for character development.
Princess Eliza Windsor fights comic-book evil in a post-apocalyptic United Kingdom.
After the Seventeen Days of "earth-splitting quakes, torrential hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis" nearly destroy civilization, the British Royal family is weakened and diminished. But however strained the means of the royals, the rest of Britain lives in abject poverty. From this imbalance arises the rebel New Guard of Cornelius Hollister, who murders Eliza's parents, topples the government, and kidnaps Eliza's brother and sister. Barely escaping with her life, Eliza takes refuge as an incognito trainee in the New Guard, where she's torn between the nastiness of the mean girl in charge and the kindness of the cute boy who defends her. The only way she'll escape to rescue her missing siblings is by rallying the people of Britain, who all seem desperate for a royal; apparently they've forgotten about Parliament. Luckily, the Scots near Eliza's country home of Balmoral Castle don't seem to notice Eliza constantly calling them "people of England," so she might even succeed at counterrevolution—if not geography. Americanism-laden prose does nothing to enhance Eliza's adventure.
Rushed revolution happens at lightning speed, leaving no time for character development. (Science fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-18548-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Poppy/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
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