An enjoyable intergenerational story.
An Oklahoma tween finds unexpected community.
Eddie is overscheduled. Between middle school, Hebrew school, baseball, robotics, and bar mitzvah classes, he’s got a full plate—and now he also has to complete a mitzvah project as part of his bar mitzvah. So, when his mom signs him up to volunteer at a small, local assisted living facility, Eddie feels just as cantankerous as the residents he meets at Silver Brook Pavilion. Thrown into the community with no structure and minimal guidance, he’s bored—until small valuables belonging to the residents begin to go missing. Some residents think it’s a ghost, while management is convinced that Eddie is the prime suspect. Along with a friend from his b’nai mitzvah prep class and the help of his robotics club, Eddie determinedly solves the mystery, getting to better know and even befriend the residents along the way. A subplot in which Eddie learns about one resident’s traumatic experience in the Holocaust is handled with care, as are family tensions surrounding Eddie’s father’s unemployment. A realistic, affectionate relationship with his younger sister is a delightful bonus. Short chapters and snappy first-person narration give this wide appeal. Characters default to White, although some background characters are implied to be people of color, and many characters are Jewish.
An enjoyable intergenerational story. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5415-7918-7
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
This humorous and heartwarming glimpse into an immigrant family’s experiences entertains and educates.
Being a first-generation American makes school more challenging for a plucky tween boy.
Ming Lee faces middle school with his usual bowl haircut (administered by his mom), the embarrassment of thrift store shopping for back-to-school clothing, and a fervent wish to just get through it all unnoticed. His other deep desire is a pair of Air Elevates sneakers—much too costly for his extremely frugal Chinese-immigrant parents to ever buy him. After initially being assigned to an ESL class (even though English is his first and only language), Ming is placed in Honors English. He makes two new friends, Vikrum (who’s cued Indian) and Marcus (who’s Black). The trio support each other through Halloween hilarity, Ming’s crush, basketball mishaps, and school candy sales turf wars. But the real test of friendship comes when Ming, in a desperate move after his sneaker fund is stolen, involves his buddies in a bungled shoplifting attempt. In the aftermath, Ming learns about the power of family, religion, friends, and self-acceptance. His parents, grappling with their own tribulations around finances, racism, and familial duty, gain insight into Ming’s situation, improving their family bonds. In this graphic novel inspired by the author’s life, Chung inserts humor and love beside moments of pain and frustration in a way that meshes stylistically with the straightforward dialogue and clean, simple drawings.
This humorous and heartwarming glimpse into an immigrant family’s experiences entertains and educates. (author’s note, how to make a graphic novel) (Graphic fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781250887306
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
A fizzy mix of low humor and brisk action, with promise of more of both to come.
Heroic deeds await Isaac after his little sister runs into the school basement and is captured by elves.
Even though their school is a spooky old castle transplanted stone by stone from Germany, Isaac and his two friends, Max and Emma, little suspect that an entire magical kingdom lies beneath—a kingdom run by elves, policed by oversized rats in uniform, and populated by captives who start out human but undergo transformative “weirding.” These revelations await Isaac and sidekicks as they nerve themselves to trail his bossy younger sib, Lily, through a shadowy storeroom and into a tunnel, across a wide lake, and into a city lit by half-human fireflies, where they are cast together into a dungeon. Can they escape before they themselves start changing? Gibson pits his doughty rescuers against such adversaries as an elven monarch who emits truly kingly belches and a once-human jailer with a self-picking nose. Tests of mettle range from a riddle contest to a face-off with the menacing head rat Shelfliver, and a helter-skelter chase finally leads rescuers and rescued back to the aboveground. Plainly, though, there is further rescuing to be done.
A fizzy mix of low humor and brisk action, with promise of more of both to come. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62370-255-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
