This empathetic debut is a middle-grade whodunit with a very special heart.
Matthew is the Jimmy Stewart of this Rear Window for middle graders.
Behind the safety of his bedroom window, 12-year-old Matthew Corbin watches the world go by. Unable to go to school consistently or play with friends like other children his age because of a crippling fear of germs, Matthew observes life from behind the safety of glass windowpanes. Neighbors come and go about their business. Children play. And one day, a posh black car delivers a young girl and her baby brother to their grandfather, and neither Matthew nor his cul-de-sac in a largely white London suburb will ever be the same. When 15-month-old Teddy disappears, Matthew, with the unexpected help of a quirky, cemetery-obsessed neighbor, vows to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Matthew’s struggles with OCD and guilt over the death of his own baby brother are heartbreakingly real, yet somehow, even in Matthew’s most difficult moments, the novel never loses its sense of hope. Hope that Teddy will be found. And hope that Matthew will fight his demons and reclaim his life. A secondary cast of characters, including Matthew’s parents and Melody Bird, his sassy, self-appointed investigative partner, helps to make this possible. Thompson strikes the perfect balance, seemingly without compromise, between an issue-driven novel and one with broad, commercial appeal.
This empathetic debut is a middle-grade whodunit with a very special heart. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-05394-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Highly amusing.
The incompetent parents from The Willoughbys (2008) find themselves thawed by global warming.
Henry and Frances haven’t aged since the accident that buried them in snow and froze them for 30 years in the Swiss Alps. Their Rip van Winkle–ish return is archly comedic, with the pair, a medical miracle, realizing (at last!) how much they’ve lost and how baffled they are now. Meanwhile, their eldest son, Tim, is grown and in charge of his adoptive father’s candy empire, now threatened with destitution by a congressional ban on candy (opposed by an unnamed Bernie Sanders). He is father to 11-year-old Richie, who employs ad-speak whenever he talks about his newest toys, like a remote-controlled car (“The iconic Lamborghini bull adorns the hubcaps and hood”). But Richie envies Winston Poore, the very poor boy next door, who has a toy car carved for him by his itinerant encyclopedia-salesman father. Winston and his sister, Winifred, plan to earn money for essentials by offering their services as companions to lonely Richie while their mother dabbles, spectacularly unsuccessfully, in running a B&B. Lowry’s exaggerated characters and breezy, unlikely plot are highly entertaining. She offers humorous commentary both via footnotes advising readers of odd facts related to the narrative and via Henry and Frances’ reentry challenges. The threads of the story, with various tales of parents gone missing, fortunes lost or never found, and good luck in the end, are gathered most satisfactorily and warmheartedly.
Highly amusing. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-42389-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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