A compelling adventure steeped in Jewish tradition.
Ezra is the Nivchar, a chosen one destined to fight the embodiment of all evil, the gurya dinura.
Each generation, a Nivchar is born bearing a “birthmark constellation of moznayim, the Scales.” They’re trained by the Sanhedrin, a council of Jewish leaders, to prepare for the battle, which takes place on the night of their bar or bas mitzvah. During the period between the battles—the Beinoni time—“nothing’s really all that bad…and there’s nothing too incredible to hope for, either.” Months before Ezra’s battle, the Beinoni time starts slipping away, which Ezra is convinced has to do with the mysterious organization that seems bent on kidnapping him. He begins to struggle in school, and he befriends his troublemaker classmate, Aryeh. A mystery surrounding the previous Nivchar unfolds slowly, and sharp readers will likely guess how Ezra’s battle will play out based on many hints. A glossary assists readers who may be unfamiliar with the book’s Jewish concepts. Jewish readers, particularly Orthodox Ashkenazi ones, will feel at home here, and those familiar with Semitic languages may even pick up on some linguistic clues. Ezra and most characters are Jewish and cued white; some major supporting characters are Persian Jews. A subplot relating to Ezra’s ADHD diagnosis and treatment will resonate with many.
A compelling adventure steeped in Jewish tradition. (Fantasy mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781646145065
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Korman’s trademark humor makes this an appealing read.
Will a bully always be a bully?
That’s the question eighth-grade football captain Chase Ambrose has to answer for himself after a fall from his roof leaves him with no memory of who and what he was. When he returns to Hiawassee Middle School, everything and everyone is new. The football players can hardly wait for him to come back to lead the team. Two, Bear Bratsky and Aaron Hakimian, seem to be special friends, but he’s not sure what they share. Other classmates seem fearful; he doesn’t know why. Temporarily barred from football because of his concussion, he finds a new home in the video club and, over time, develops a new reputation. He shoots videos with former bullying target Brendan Espinoza and even with Shoshanna Weber, who’d hated him passionately for persecuting her twin brother, Joel. Chase voluntarily continues visiting the nursing home where he’d been ordered to do community service before his fall, making a special friend of a decorated Korean War veteran. As his memories slowly return and he begins to piece together his former life, he’s appalled. His crimes were worse than bullying. Will he become that kind of person again? Set in the present day and told in the alternating voices of Chase and several classmates, this finding-your-middle-school-identity story explores provocative territory. Aside from naming conventions, the book subscribes to the white default.
Korman’s trademark humor makes this an appealing read. (Fiction. 9-14)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-05377-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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