by Maisie Chan ; illustrated by Natelle Quek ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2021
Funny and heartwarming; a balanced equation of family, culture, and being true to yourself.
Eleven-year-old Danny is surprised by his parents with a new bunk bed—and a roommate—when his grandmother from China comes to England and moves in with them.
While he’d rather spend time with his friends, Danny’s tasked with showing his paternal grandmother, Nai Nai, around. Nai Nai doesn’t speak English, and her lack of familiarity with the local culture continually embarrasses Danny. But the more time he spends with her, the more Danny finds to admire. The intergenerational relationship between grandmother and grandson shows the power of love to connect across ages, cultures, and language barriers, as Danny doesn’t speak Nai Nai’s dialect. Told with humor and authenticity, this refreshingly sweet story also touches on the challenges Danny and his family face as British Chinese people: Although Danny was born in England, he is still subjected to stereotypes about his race (contrary to others’ beliefs, he struggles with math) and witnesses xenophobia toward his grandmother. Despite their limited verbal communication, Nai Nai’s actions show the lengths she’ll go to protect and stand up for her grandson. Her strength inspires Danny in multiple ways and their bond helps bridge the cultural gap between Danny’s artistic passion and his parents’ ambitions for him. Danny’s detailed drawings appear throughout the book and reinforce his cheeky, irreverent sense of humor and dedication to his art.
Funny and heartwarming; a balanced equation of family, culture, and being true to yourself. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4821-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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by Maisie Chan ; illustrated by Natelle Quek
by Christina Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 2021
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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by Christina Li
by Lois Lowry ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1989
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
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by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh
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by Lois Lowry
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