Fried bread, gray rain, drab institutions. There’s a lot to get used to when a spunky American tomboy and her family temporarily relocate to England circa 1950. After experiencing a repressive London school, Libby is grateful to be transferred to a Queen Anne manse on 88 acres of classic British countryside, with horse paddocks and wood-paneled dormitories straight out of the storybooks she reads obsessively. Young and uncertain, Libby soon warms to the place, slowly reining in her unbridled nature before her bittersweet return home. Told from Libby’s POV—through somber narration and vintage sidebar images—the slight story’s coming-of-age elements seem oddly archaic but ring true; they’re based on the author’s own childhood memories. Small daily scenarios are reflected through a rear-view mirror. This surprising emotional distance and less-is-more storytelling underwhelms the senses. The elegant simplicity echoes the prim discipline of classic boarding-school life, and politely nods to “Little Women” with its docile manner and Libby’s secret admiration of Jo, a yet-to-be-discovered writer like herself. Harking back to gentler times, this winsome, nostalgic memoir is as delicate and old-fashioned as a doily on a wingback chair. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-316-61443-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Megan Tingley/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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