A coming-of-age tale that’s perfect for sophisticated teenagers with an interest in sports.
An action-packed debut YA novel about a teenage girl who dreams of becoming a professional dirt-bike racer.
Sixteen-year-old Clover Kassedy has been forced to move with her family from her hometown in Canada to Denver, and she struggles to find a place for herself in her new community. The local kids taunt her about her dirt-bike racing hobby, her tomboyishness and her Canadian heritage. Meanwhile, her father pressures her too hard to win races, and her mother fails to show any interest in her hobby at all, instead favoring Clover’s younger sister. It’s no surprise when Clover falls in with a rough crowd, as she’s delighted to finally find people who accept her. Unfortunately, she lets her new “friends” get the best of her, following them to wild parties, experimenting with sex and alcohol, and shirking her academic responsibilities. It’s not long before she realizes that she must either get her life back in gear or permanently relinquish her dream of racing professionally. Over the course of the story, Clover confronts many complicated issues facing teenagers; for example, she watches one friend battle bulimia and another deal with being abandoned by his mother. She also struggles with questions relating to friendship, honesty, perseverance, romance and despair. Hutton provides many heart-pounding, play-by-play descriptions of Clover’s races (“She slammed on both brakes and held her breath, keeping her elbows in, as if that would help her sneak through the tight space”). She also includes intriguing information about international bike racing and the difficulties young women face trying to break into the sport. Like the dirt bikes she describes, Hutton’s absorbing narrative moves at a fast clip. At times, the narration uses too many Australian idioms, which may make it difficult for readers to believe that Clover is growing up in America rather than Hutton’s native Australia; measurements are in meters rather than feet, and the Colorado teenagers are forever promising to “ring” each other. Despite such narrative hiccups, however, the book offers an insightful look into the life of a teenager with a talent.
A coming-of-age tale that’s perfect for sophisticated teenagers with an interest in sports.Pub Date: May 24, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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