Full of passion and ideas but wedged in an awkward place between fiction and policy.
A group of former students works to spread the word about a unique approach to building healthier communities.
In 1996, Mr. Hoffer, a civics teacher at Bloomfield High in California, brought a group of his students to nearby Mapleton High School. They were there to learn about Another Way, Mapleton’s unique, wildly successful townwide system of public service and volunteerism. It’s based on the idea that people are innately good, and, if organized and working together, they’re better able to handle challenges in their community than the federal government. During a wide-ranging meeting with the Mapleton students, the Bloomfield kids learned the general outline of the Another Way system, and they also formed lasting bonds with their hosts. Fifteen years later, Another Way is going strong in Bloomfield, and former Mapleton star athlete and pro basketball player Lincoln Williams, one of the students at the 1996 meeting, is now a public figure and an outspoken Another Way advocate. During a meeting of some of the original Thirteen, as the 11 students and two teachers who attended the meeting in Mapleton in 1996 are called, a student suggests that Williams should run for office. After some soul-searching, Williams agrees to run for a vacant seat in the House of Representatives on a platform based on the fundamental principles underlying Another Way, with help from the Thirteen. This is book one in a planned six-volume series, which will follow the Thirteen through the year 2050. According to the prologue, Bohannon-Kaplan decided to frame her ideas in the form of a novel because more people read fiction than read books about public policy. Unfortunately, this results in a somewhat unwieldy hybrid—a policy book that lacks focus due to the demands of fiction and a novel that’s too often slowed to a crawl by extended policy discussions and philosophical debate. Still, the prose is clear and direct, and whether or not readers agree with Bohannon-Kaplan’s vision, they’re bound to appreciate her enthusiasm.
Full of passion and ideas but wedged in an awkward place between fiction and policy.Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Wellington Publications
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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