An important story to tell, but the execution could have been more polished.
This third series entry continues the story of the Ukrainian Popkov family: twins Dariia and Rada and their father and mother.
Rada and her mother are now refugees, sheltering in a ski village in the Carpathian Mountains and slowly rebuilding their lives, but Dariia is missing and their father has been captured by the Russians. The book opens in November 2022 with Rada’s point of view. She learns that Dariia is still alive, living near Moscow with a Russian family who treat her “like a prisoner and a servant” (this information was revealed in the first book). Rada and her mom begin plotting how to get her out. The book provides much detail about the tight community the refugees form as they cook and eat together and celebrate holidays in traditional Ukrainian fashion. The second half is told from Dariia’s point of view after she’s been rescued. The sisters are grateful to be together again but occasionally snipe at each other like ordinary siblings. Character building isn’t this story’s strong suit, however: The twins don’t come across as two distinct people, and the dialogue is flat and doesn’t fully convey the characters’ emotions. This work emphasizes the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people and, crucially, shines a light on their plight, but repetitive elements undercut the tension.
An important story to tell, but the execution could have been more polished. (author’s note, maps) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 21, 2026
ISBN: 9781546104599
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when...
Two sisters make an unauthorized expedition to their former hometown and in the process bring together the two parts of their divided family.
Dooley packs plenty of emotion into this eventful road trip, which takes place over the course of less than 24 hours. Twelve-year-old Ophelia, nicknamed Fella, and her 16-year-old sister, Zoey Grace, aka Zany, are the daughters of a lesbian couple, Shannon and Lacy, who could not legally marry. The two white girls squabble and share memories as they travel from West Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina, where Zany is determined to scatter Mama Lacy’s ashes in accordance with her wishes. The year is 2004, before the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and the girls have been separated by hostile, antediluvian custodial laws. Fella’s present-tense narration paints pictures not just of the difficulties they face on the trip (a snowstorm, car trouble, and an unlikely thief among them), but also of their lives before Mama Lacy’s illness and of the ways that things have changed since then. Breathless and engaging, Fella’s distinctive voice is convincingly childlike. The conversations she has with her sister, as well as her insights about their relationship, likewise ring true. While the girls face serious issues, amusing details and the caring adults in their lives keep the tone relatively light.
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when Fella’s family figures out how to come together in a new way . (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-16504-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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