A well-written and engaging cautionary tale about the issues facing preteen girls in modern society.
A young girl moves with her family to the suburbs, leaving her best friend behind and learning that relationships and growing up are more complicated than she imagined.
In this debut novel, 10-year-old Audrey Tabor has a “pretty terrific” life in Boston with her parents, little brother, and best friend, Milly, right across the street. The only downside is their cramped city apartment with no yard to play in, so Audrey is thrilled when her parents find a house they can afford in the nearby suburb of Greenwood Springs. She is sad to leave Milly behind but excited about her new life, and she even finds a new good friend in Gretchen, a girl in her fifth-grade class. Gretchen warns her about the “Style Girls,” a clique of mean preteens who rule the fifth grade by promoting superficial values of fashion and wealth and aiming vicious barbs at any girl who doesn’t measure up. Audrey is confused, however, when the Style Girls approach her and offer her a place in the group. They seem so nice, so cool, and, almost without realizing it, Audrey abandons Gretchen and Milly and finds she is willing to do almost anything to remain in the clique. Koresky expertly unravels the closely woven threads of social insecurity, economic class, and body image that have begun to shape the lives of 21st-century girls at an earlier and earlier age. Although the reader can see the perilous situation Audrey embraces, her portrayal is so sensitive and realistic that one never loses sympathy with her as she begins to lie to her friends and family, adopt the Style Girls’ aristocratic cruelty, and diet to the point of emaciation, all the while realizing that she will never really fit in. The one glaring omission is any mention of the internet and the cyberbullying that would doubtless appeal to the cellphone-addicted Style Girls. The ending is somewhat pat, but since Audrey’s character is so well-developed and the supporting cast so strong, her journey still resonates.
A well-written and engaging cautionary tale about the issues facing preteen girls in modern society.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9839460-2-1
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Flying Corgi Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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