Lucy’s inimitably irrepressible manner makes her a fine guide through the shoals of early adolescence.
Change is looming for 13-year-old Lucy.
In this third entry in the series, the industrious entrepreneur turns her focus toward her personal life. Midway through eighth grade, Lucy feels driven to make her final months of middle school perfect. However, Lucy quickly discovers that the pursuit of perfection is more difficult than her entrepreneurial endeavors. While Lucy savors the successes of her eco-oriented initiatives, she experiences challenges in her personal life. The recent lack of attention from her boyfriend, Yamir, is puzzling, as is the sudden friendliness of her former nemesis, Erica. While Lucy and best friend Sunny agree to collaborate with Erica on the upcoming masked dance for eighth graders, Lucy continues to be skeptical about Erica’s intentions, wondering whether a person can really change. Also, as Yamir becomes increasingly distant, Lucy struggles to define her expectations for a boyfriend. The situation is further complicated when newcomer Travis expresses a keen interest in Lucy. Amid the ensuing confusion and heartfelt introspection, Lucy’s dating and friendship dilemmas escalate as the date of the masquerade approaches. Greenwald captures the agitation and uncertainty that come with venturing into dating and relationships. Lucy’s turmoil navigating friendships and boyfriends leads to a re-evaluation of her desire for perfection and an eventual acceptance of change—a satisfyingly realistic conclusion.
Lucy’s inimitably irrepressible manner makes her a fine guide through the shoals of early adolescence. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1225-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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