An understated, grounded account of getting older.
Capetanos’ debut middle-grade novel describes a year in the life of a 12-year-old boy as he grapples with the big questions of life.
Thomas “Tommy” Adkins Johnson is an ordinary preteen growing up in central North Carolina: “Almost everything about me seems average,” he narrates. His best friend is Kareem Brooks, but the two have drifted apart since Kareem has become more serious about playing basketball. Tommy also has a good friend, Mignon Eubanks, who’s not quite a girlfriend—at least not yet. At the beginning of his seventh-grade school year, his class takes a field trip to a planetarium, and learning about the vastness of space changes his outlook on life. He puzzles over tough questions, such as whether humans are alone in the universe. Did someone make us, he wonders, or are we just an accident? When Tommy’s uncle, Aaron, is killed in a motorcycle accident, he starts pondering death by reading obituaries and visiting graveyards. He decides that he wants to leave something behind when he passes away, so that people will know who he was. Mignon comes up with the idea of making a time capsule, which Tommy calls the “Time Box.” The process of constructing the box, deciding what to put in it, and figuring out where to bury it shapes the rest of his year. Capetanos depicts Tommy often contemplating the mysteries of girls and sex in this novel, sometimes crudely, as many adolescent boys do. However, the author also portrays his protagonist’s budding relationship with Mignon in a way that conveys mutual respect and genuine feeling, as she teaches him how to slow-dance and gives him his “first real genuine kiss.” Tommy tells his story as if talking to someone who’s unfamiliar with his 21st-century suburban world—a future archaeologist unearthing a time capsule, perhaps. Sometimes he comes across as too insightful for his age, but more often his 12-year-old voice sounds genuine. Due to some strong language, this realistic coming-of-age story will appeal to more mature preteen readers as well as adults who may be feeling nostalgic for their childhoods.
An understated, grounded account of getting older.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9911211-8-2
Page Count: 239
Publisher: Owl Canyon Press
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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