Banks (The Key to the Cupboard, 1998, etc.) introduces a highly appealing character in an ultimately disappointing novel. Nine-year-old Alice Williamson-Stone loves to write stories, so much so that when her teacher gives the class an assignment to write about themselves, Alice can’t stop and writes a full-length autobiography. Alice—spunky, resilient, creative, and funny—has had her share of hard knocks and sadness. Raised by a single mom, she learns early on that she came into life “by accident” (hence the title) and that her father wanted to play no part in her life. Alice’s mother does the best she can, but she is often overwhelmed by the job of raising such a feisty girl on her own. Alice’s paternal grandmother Gene, a famous English actress, enters Alice’s life when Alice is three. She often takes Alice to the theater and ballet, encourages her love of books and art, and even takes her on a trip to Spain. Gene is the second most important person in Alice’s life, and the void that’s left when Gene and Alice’s mother, who have always had a hostile relationship, have a final row and Gene is suddenly out of Alice’s life, is enormous. But despite Alice’s likable personality, this is not Banks at her best. The story is often confusing, with many jumps back and forth in time. Many plot elements are hard to buy—for example, it’s difficult to believe that Gene could so easily drop out of Alice’s life when she knows there are no other adults in Alice’s life, aside from her mother. In fact, all the adults here come up rather short. The deliberate misspellings—“applord” for applaud, “dier emerjency,” “ile” for aisle, “ortobiography” for autobiography—and deliberate grammatical mistakes will be confusing for children. The cover illustration depicts a girl of 14 or 15, while Alice is 9 and 10 during the course of the story. Although the reading level is 9 to 13, many of the older kids in that age range will resist reading about a child that much younger than themselves (the reason, perhaps, behind the misleading cover). (Fiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: June 30, 2000
ISBN: 0-380-97865-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals.
Is dolphin-assisted therapy so beneficial to patients that it’s worth keeping a wild dolphin captive?
Twelve-year-old Lily has lived with her emotionally distant oncologist stepfather and a succession of nannies since her mother died in a car accident two years ago. Nannies leave because of the difficulty of caring for Adam, Lily’s severely autistic 4-year-old half brother. The newest, Suzanne, seems promising, but Lily is tired of feeling like a planet orbiting the sun Adam. When she meets blind Zoe, who will attend the same private middle school as Lily in the fall, Lily’s happy to have a friend. However, Zoe’s take on the plight of the captive dolphin, Nori, used in Adam’s therapy opens Lily’s eyes. She knows she must use her influence over her stepfather, who is consulting on Nori’s treatment for cancer (caused by an oil spill), to free the animal. Lily’s got several fine lines to walk, as she works to hold onto her new friend, convince her stepfather of the rightness of releasing Nori, and do what’s best for Adam. In her newest exploration of animal-human relationships, Rorby’s lonely, mature heroine faces tough but realistic situations. Siblings of children on the spectrum will identify with Lily. If the tale flirts with sentimentality and some of the characters are strident in their views, the whole never feels maudlin or didactic.
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-67605-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Like Blume, Hiranandani resists simplistic, tidy solutions. Each excels in charting the fluctuating discomfort zones of...
Four decades separate Sonia Nadhamuni and Judy Blume’s Margaret Simon, but these feisty, funny offspring of Jewish interfaith marriages are sisters under the skin.
Perched on the uncertain cusp of adulthood, each grapples with perplexing cultural identity issues, but in very different worlds. While Margaret’s grandparents pressure her to label herself as they wish, it’s Sonia’s peers who expect her to define herself racially and culturally. Having a nominally Hindu, Indian-immigrant dad and Jewish-American mom wasn’t a big deal until her father lost his job. Now Sonia must leave her comfortably small private school behind and—with Dad sinking into clinical depression and Mom taking on more work—chart her own course at Maplewood Middle School. Where does she fit? With the cheerleaders like pretty, blonde Kate or the bussed-in, city kids like Alisha, who’s writing a novel? Sonia’s the only cheerleader not invited to Peter Hanson’s birthday party. Is racism the cause? As in real life, her challenges don’t come neatly compartmentalized; Sonia will have to work out her mixed-heritage identity while contending with stressed-out parents, financial woes and vexing social uncertainties. Multifaceted characters, especially Sonia—astute, observant and original—provide depth.
Like Blume, Hiranandani resists simplistic, tidy solutions. Each excels in charting the fluctuating discomfort zones of adolescent identity with affectionate humor. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-385-74128-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
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