A commendable effort that embeds racial tension, geopolitics, and environmental issues in an action-packed Martian adventure.
In the year 2335, a 13-year-old Earth girl with Chinese heritage begins a new life on Mars.
Just arrived from Earth, Belle Song and her family become farmers on Mars, which has been terraformed to accommodate agriculture. Belle is resilient and refreshingly headstrong, and she finds all manner of trouble and adventure while trying to acclimate to her new world. She meets Lucas, the abrasive bispecies (human/Sulux) boy with light purple skin from the farm next door, and Ta’al, a Nabian girl with even stranger features that are “definitely not human.” The story traces Belle’s adjustment over the course of a year. On the surface, Collins crafts a Martian action-adventure story, complete with water raiders, hybrid animals, and trips to the bustling capital city. Underlying themes of racial acceptance and environmental impact are inescapably heavy-handed, although doled out with restraint, mostly through Belle’s insistence that Lucas come to accept Ta’al even though the Sulux and Nabians are prejudiced against each other. Given the entertaining third-person narration, Belle’s interspersed journal entries seem unnecessary, but Tikulin’s illustrations offer rich ambiance and work beautifully with the graphic design. An opening gallery brings the Song family and their friends to life, and each part of Belle’s journey is prefaced with superb illustrations of exploits to come.
A commendable effort that embeds racial tension, geopolitics, and environmental issues in an action-packed Martian adventure. (glossary) (Science fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62370-986-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Fans will be pleased to see answers, background, and a clear path to Volume 1.
In this sequel to a prequel, a third candidate for School Master brings simmering tensions between twins Rhian and Rafal to a boil.
In events following close on those in Rise of the School for Good and Evil (2022), the arrival of James Hook in Neverland, along with fellow ex-students Aladdin and Princess Kyma, spurs ruthless tyrant Peter Pan to mount his own bid to take over the twin-towered school where fairy-tale characters are trained. Meanwhile Rafal and Rhian, amid their growing rivalry, are both searching for an ally they can trust, and they kidnap a Reader—young Midas—from the outside world. What follows is a seminar on telling Good from Evil as the line between the two becomes even more muddled, numerous members of the sprawling cast exhibit qualities of both, and Rafal, in particular, suffers an extended identity crisis. Chainani explores feminist themes as a group of punk Neverland fairies and a man-hunting troll join Kyma, asserting their independence and questioning what might happen “if boys don’t have the last word in our stories.” He also presents a credible rationale for Good’s invariable victory over Evil in fairy tales. Characters’ skin tones vary from pale to bronze, and the two trolls are colorful showstoppers. Final art not seen.
Fans will be pleased to see answers, background, and a clear path to Volume 1. (Fantasy. 11-14)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780063269538
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
An outstanding addition to the inadequate-parent genre.
For 12-year-old, “fifty percent Swedish, twenty-five percent Haitian, twenty-five percent French” Felix, all of his scary stories are about the Ministry of Children and Family Development—the Canadian agency that has the power to take him from his mom and place him in foster care.
His flighty mother, Astrid (she’s the Swedish part), is both depressed and chronically under- or often unemployed. His father is mostly out of the picture. Astrid will do what she needs to, including artfully lying and stealing, to keep their heads—barely—above water as they descend into homelessness. As depicted with gritty realism, the pair has been living in a van for months, using public restrooms, and rarely having enough to eat. But Felix has two great friends, Winnie, who is Asian, and Dylan, who is white; they will watch his back whatever comes. Sadly, they have little idea of his truly dire situation since he’s so resourceful at hiding his problems in order to stave off the MCFD. When Felix is selected to appear on a quiz show, it seems as if it could offer a resolution for their troubles: Winning would earn him a $25,000 prize. Felix’s deeply engrossing and fully immersive first-person narrative of homelessness is both illuminating and heartbreaking. Although the story ends with hope for the future, it’s his winsome and affecting determination that will win readers over.
An outstanding addition to the inadequate-parent genre. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6834-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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