Newton’s law proclaims to every action there’s always an equal reaction. For Kate Malone, life is a matter of scientific exactness, except that she is driven by her obsession to get into MIT. The conflict between running her life with the preciseness of scientific equations (calculations) and the religious beliefs and blessings of her minister father separates her into Good Kate and Bad Kate. When the rejection letter arrives (and she’s forced to admit she didn’t apply to any back-up schools), both Kates begin a meltdown; the catalyst is a destructive fire of a classmate’s house and barn. Teri, the senior-class toughie and bruiser with whom nobody messes, and her two-year-old brother, come to stay at Kate’s house while a corps of volunteers rebuilds theirs. An already combative relationship between the girls builds even as Teri throws herself into the renovation project. A terrible tragedy will shock readers as much as it threatens to unravel the progress folks have made. The first-person voice is gripping, with the reader feeling as though she’s crouching inside Kate’s head. Numbered like an outline, 2.3, 7.0, the chapters are labeled with scientific terms and safety tips that anticipate the introspective reactions. Intelligently written with multi-dimensional characters that replay in one’s mind, this complex, contemporary story carries much of the intensity and harshness of Speak (2000). It confronts moral issues, religious conundrums, and the dynamics of emotions in young adult lives as two girls driven by the past and present realize their impact on the future. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-670-03566-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
A clever and entertaining college campus romance.
Two intertwined “mortal enemies” vie for a coveted college zine position.
Sadie is determined to become a staff writer for the zine of her dream school, Virginia’s Maple Ride University. After working tirelessly for years, Sadie was accepted to the university, and now she’s on her way to the Newsbag interest meeting in pursuit of a staff position. But she collides with Sebastian Adams, her longtime school competitor, and the smoothie he’s holding spills all over her. This encounter also reveals unfortunate news: Seb, the Instagram star whose channel, “Adams’ Apples,” is hugely popular, has been taken off Maple Ride’s waitlist. Seb and Sadie have a long, involved history, having practically been raised together since birth by parents who are best friends. Newsbag is highly selective with a national reputation, and the co-editors inform meeting attendees that only one staff writer position is available, setting off a fierce rivalry while simultaneously showing Sadie that her feelings for Seb might be something other than competitive disdain. The college—with its quirky and hilarious student organizations, such as the Sad Bitch Book Club and the Random Acts of Chaos Club—is the perfect setting for the witty snark and blooming rivals-to-lovers romance. Readers will be drawn into the competition while rooting for a happy ending between these nemeses. Sadie and Seb (who’s bisexual) are cued white.
A clever and entertaining college campus romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781250904027
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
A dystopian world that is all too real and that has much to say about our own.
In an apocalyptic future Canada, Indigenous people have been forced to live on the run to avoid capture by the Recruiters, government military agents who kidnap Indians and confine them to facilities called “schools.”
Orphan Frenchie (Métis) is rescued from the Recruiters by Miigwans (Anishnaabe) along with a small band of other Indians from different nations, most young and each with a tragic story. Miigwans leads the group north to find others, holding on to the belief of safety in numbers. Five years later, Frenchie is now 16, and the bonded travelers have protected one another, strengthened by their loyalty and will to persevere as a people. They must stay forever on alert, just a breath away from capture by the Recruiters or by other Indians who act as their agents. Miigwans reveals that the government has been kidnapping Indians to extract their bone marrow, scientists believing that the key to restoring dreaming to white people is found within their DNA. Frenchie later learns that the truth is even more horrifying. The landscape of North America has been completely altered by climate change, rising oceans having eliminated coastlines and the Great Lakes having been destroyed by pollution and busted oil pipelines. Though the presence of the women in the story is downplayed, Miigwans is a true hero; in him Dimaline creates a character of tremendous emotional depth and tenderness, connecting readers with the complexity and compassion of Indigenous people.
A dystopian world that is all too real and that has much to say about our own. (Science fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-77086-486-3
Page Count: 180
Publisher: DCB
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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