Byalick (It’s a Matter of Trust, 1995) pens a readable story about a young girl living with Tourette’s syndrome. While she doesn’t skimp on any unpleasant details, she doesn’t make it seem as if having the illness is the worst thing in the world either. The heroine of the piece is a likable Long Island seventh-grader named Carrie Kravetz. She has a pretty typical life—if you don’t count her involuntary head twitches, facial tics, and compulsive throat clearing and sniffing, not to mention the extraordinary lengths she must go to sometimes to suppress these outbursts. Yet in many ways Carrie’s life is like any other girl’s. She’s got loving parents, for one thing. By trying to hide their pain and annoyance about Carrie’s symptoms, however, they’re dishonest about their feelings and pretend the disease doesn’t exist. She also has a good relationship with her elder sister. Furthermore, Carrie excels in school drama and jazz dance (interestingly, Tourette’s seems to vanish altogether during these pursuits). Carrie also has a best friend, Clyde, who’s got his own problems (a terror of mosquitoes and the West Nile virus; this boy sees epidemic everywhere) yet who has steadfastly stood by Carrie through all of her tics over the years. Then Rebecca, a new girl in school, enters Carrie’s sphere. The two girls grow close right away, but at the expense of Clyde’s friendship, since Rebecca wants nothing to do with him. Though the three are all part of the “Lunch Bunch” at school, three’s a crowd and the new girl’s monopoly of Carrie drives a wedge between the two former best friends. How this is all resolved—and how Carrie gets her parents to listen to her and accept her, through the offices of a kind, understanding teacher—makes for thought-provoking and satisfying reading. A helpful list of FAQs and answers about Tourette’s syndrome are appended. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-72997-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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