This coming-of-age story about diverse characters coming to grips with their layered identities rings true.
An Indian American boy struggles with his sexuality and mental health while finding a place for himself in seventh grade.
Rahul Kapoor may not be sure about his sexuality, but he is sure of one thing: This year, he wants to make an impression. Inspired by a story his grandfather tells him, Rahul decides that the best way to impress his classmates—and, in the process, to protect himself from bullies—is to pick something and be the best at it. With the help of his fiery best friend, Chelsea, a white girl who wisely, consistently steers Rahul toward being himself and doing what he loves, Rahul tries a number of activities before settling on Mathletes, where he soon becomes a star. But when Japanese American Jenny asks him to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and when his Mathletes career doesn’t go as planned, Rahul spirals into an anxious depression with symptoms of OCD that force him to confront and eventually accept exactly who he is. In his author’s note, Pancholy notes that Rahul’s story is semiautobiographical, and it shows. Every character in the story is nuanced and sympathetically rendered, and the book does not shy away from racism, sexism, ableism, or homophobia. The protagonist’s devastatingly honest voice pulls readers deeply into a fast-paced journey riddled with heartbreakingly authentic moments of anxiety, confusion, and triumph.
This coming-of-age story about diverse characters coming to grips with their layered identities rings true. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-286641-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Heart-rendingly unflagging in the face of life-changing events, Missy’s a funny, compelling heroine that readers will cheer...
Twelve-year-old Missy narrates a summer full of tumultuous change, from her first job to her father’s remarriage.
Together, Missy and brother Patrick, almost 14, have weathered their parents’ two-year separation. (Brother Claude, nearly 3, doesn’t remember life before the Parenting Plan.) Missy’s two best friends head off to camp—too costly an option for her family. Patrick, intent on remaking his skinny-guy image with new school clothes, spies an ad for blueberry-picking jobs for kids. After persuading each parent, the siblings begin several life-changing weeks at a nearby farm. Missy becomes an expert picker, while Patrick becomes smitten with Shauna; their growing romance between the rows infuriates Missy. Shrouded by a towering hedge and some heavily foreshadowed mystery, the farm, owned by taciturn Moose and wife Bev, has long been divided in two—Moose’s estranged brother farms next door. This subplot—in which Missy discovers the secret of the brothers’ enmity—is the novel’s weak element, relying for its advance on implausibly candid confidences that Moose, Bev, and field boss Al share with Missy. It’s Missy’s feisty, utterly believable narration that shines through here. As friends change and her family morphs again, Missy, with her mother’s subtle guidance, gradually accepts the inevitable with a newly emerging grace.
Heart-rendingly unflagging in the face of life-changing events, Missy’s a funny, compelling heroine that readers will cheer for. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-525-42654-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Realistically presenting the situational rather than absolute nature of some difficult choices, this engrossing novel...
Kate Tyler compromises her own values to protect her brother from bullying in this follow-up to Cummings’ The Red Kayak (2004).
Following his release from a juvenile detention center in which he was incarcerated for causing the drowning of a toddler in a kayak he and friends damaged, 14-year-old J.T. (called “Chicken Man” due to the family business) encounters vicious bullying at school. Kate, one year younger, tries to stop the bullying, even when it involves cheating: doing homework for Curtis, one of the worst bullies. Kate develops a relationship with Curtis and begins to empathize with him. As Kate weighs the importance of supporting family versus the immorality of cheating, she realizes that different situations call for different responses—things are not always black and white; there are many gray areas. Kate is a savior, trying to save not only her brother and her family, but also the chickens that they tend in deplorable conditions for a large agribusiness. Cummings touches on many issues, from environmental concerns to the pains of growing up, from antibiotic-resistant superbugs to forgiveness, yet ably manages to keep the story progressing engagingly. Minimal but sufficient back story allows this novel to stand alone.
Realistically presenting the situational rather than absolute nature of some difficult choices, this engrossing novel provides lots to ponder and discuss. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-525-42617-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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