Readers who are list makers should make sure this series opener is included.
All Jack Berenson wants is to go to school like a normal sixth-grader and come home to parents who work regular, old 9-to-5 jobs, but life with Richard and Claire Berenson is anything but normal.
When the two whisk their son off to the “undiscovered Caribbean” in hot pursuit of their next get-rich-quick scheme, Jack quickly finds himself stranded on a desert island with little more than a bird named Loco, a few bags of potato chips and a box of Spider-Man Band-Aids. Incredibly, there seems less reason to be concerned for Jack’s welfare than for his flighty, accident-prone parents, who are safe on the mainland. Readers will be charmed by Jack, whose flair for checklists and self-preservation is both humorous and endearing. Middle-grade readers who tend to leave their socks on the floor will surely be intrigued by a kid whose first order of business upon being shipwrecked is to do laundry. While at first Jack’s parents do seem alarmingly uninterested in their son’s well-being, they gradually warm up to their role as parents. By book’s end, the threesome even agree upon a set of family rules designed to save lives and still allow room for a bit of adventure.
Readers who are list makers should make sure this series opener is included. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1076-3
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff.
When Rafa Alvarez and his two best friends decide to bring their favorite role-playing game into the real world, the consequences become just as real.
Between his father’s strict nature and his mother’s worsening illness, Cuban American Rafa has retreated into playing The Forgotten Age with Beto and Yesi. However, after they attempt to steal a slushie machine from the school cafeteria as part of the game, Dad decides Rafa would best learn his lesson by spending a month on a ranch…all the way across the country from Florida in New Mexico. When Rafa arrives at Rancho Espanto, or Terror Ranch, he forms new friendships with Korean American Jennie Kim, the librarian’s daughter, and Black barn manager Marcus Coleman, an army veteran. But when a strange man in a green sweater begins to appear, causing chaos for Rafa, the seemingly sedate ranch becomes the site of an exciting—and slightly terrifying—mystery to solve. Together, Rafa and Jennie work to uncover the strange (possibly paranormal) happenings at Rancho Espanto. While the mystery lies at the core of this novel, the exploration of themes of loss, grief, and identity add complexity. Readers familiar with these subjects will see themselves in Rafa as he struggles to come to terms with and understand his mother’s condition and build his own identity.
An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780374390433
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Slick sleuthing punctuated by action on the boards and insights into differences that matter—and those that don’t.
Brothers, one neurodivergent, team up to shoot baskets and find a thief.
With the coach spit-bellowing at him to play better or get out, basketball tryouts are such a disaster for 11-year-old Green that he pelts out of the gym—becoming the chief suspect to everyone except his fiercely protective older brother, Cedar, when a valuable ring vanishes from the coach’s office. Used to being misunderstood, Green is less affected by the assumption of his guilt than Cedar, whose violent reactions risk his suspension. Switching narrative duties in alternating first-person chapters, the brothers join forces to search for clues to the real thief—amassing notes, eliminating possibilities (only with reluctance does Green discard Ringwraiths from his exhaustive list of possible perps), and, on the way to an ingenious denouement, discovering several schoolmates and grown-ups who, like Cedar, see Green as his own unique self, not just another “special needs” kid. In an author’s note, King writes that he based his title characters on family members, adding an element of conviction to his portrayals of Green as a smart, unathletic tween with a wry sense of humor and of Cedar’s attachment to him as founded in real affection, not just duty. Ultimately, the author finds positive qualities to accentuate in most of the rest of the cast too, ending on a tide of apologies and fence-mendings. Cedar and Green default to White.
Slick sleuthing punctuated by action on the boards and insights into differences that matter—and those that don’t. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-261-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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