Seventh grade friendship issues loom large in this novel that doesn’t stand out from the crowd.
Sophie befriends her new neighbor, hoping Kaytee will never learn why she was deserted by Ella, her former best friend.
Sophie’s been lonely the whole summer, but little does she suspect that bubbly Kaytee also has secrets. Kaytee’s parents are sending her and her twin brother to private schools, so Sophie feels safe lying about her popularity. In reality, Ella was wooed away by mean girl Morgan in sixth grade, and now “MorganElla” are joined at the hip, excluding and being unkind to Sophie. Everything starts to fall apart when Kaytee, who is miserable at her private school, transfers to Sophie’s public school. Sophie—smart, science-oriented, and a budding feminist—has no interest in clothes, makeup, boys, or social media. Kaytee acts more like the popular girls, but there is a part of her ocean- and dolphin-loving self that genuinely likes Sophie. Still, practical Sophie, generally good-hearted, is not above considering blackmail after she learns her neighbor’s well-kept secret. The middle school friendship problems in this novel ring true, but some of Sophie’s first-person narration feels artificial. Readers will tire of frequent pronouncements from Sophie’s social worker mother and environmental scientist father. Most characters default to White; names cue some minor characters as Asian or Latinx.
Seventh grade friendship issues loom large in this novel that doesn’t stand out from the crowd. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-72249-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
Despite flaws, this is a book worth reading simply for its originality
A fantasy based in Caribbean folklore.
Corinne La Mer is a brave 11-year-old growing up on a Caribbean island. On All Hallow’s Eve, when a pair of troublemaking brothers tie her deceased mother’s prized necklace to a wild animal, Corinne chases the animal into the forest to retrieve it. However, this is no ordinary forest: It’s known for being the abode of “jumbies,” creatures “hidden in the shadows, always waiting for their moment to attack.” Though Corinne doesn’t believe in them, a jumbie follows her out of the forest. The third-person narration tells the back story—in bits and pieces—of this jumbie, who reveals herself to be Corinne’s mother’s sister. It’s never satisfactorily explained why Severine (as Corinne’s jumbie aunt calls herself) seeks out her niece, nearly a decade after her sister’s death. In order to fight Severine—who, sympathetically, only wants a family but is bent on turning humans to jumbies to get one—Corinne must rely not only on her own strength, but that of newfound friends. The novel is based on a Haitian folk tale, according to the author’s note, and it’s refreshing to see a fantasy with its roots outside Europe. Baptiste never quite manages to control the story’s pacing, though, and certain elements in the ending feel arbitrary.
Despite flaws, this is a book worth reading simply for its originality . (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61620-414-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
Words and art combine to create a moving story.
Imagination and drawing help two grieving children in this illustrated novel by the creator of the popular Timmy Failure series and the comic strip “Pearls Before Swine.”
Things are not looking up for Saint (“I wasn’t named for a bearded guy in heaven. I was named for a football team in Louisiana”). Her favorite toy store is demolished, and her beloved diner closes. It’s all part of the gentrification for which she holds her single mother, who works long hours as a real estate agent and frequently breaks her promises, responsible. Saint very much likes reticent neighbor Daniel “Chance” McGibbons, who uses a cane, but first she has to win his friendship after an awkward beginning at his birthday party. When the uncle Chance lives with sells to developers, Saint’s determination to save his home penetrates Chance’s reserve. The kids’ subsequent shenanigans will delight readers. The story is generously illustrated with Pastis’ characteristic black-and-white cartoon line drawings, mostly of the two round-headed kids, whose hair and skin are as white as the page. Longtime neighborhood resident Old Lady Trifaldi helps Saint learn to cope with change by looking at the stars from her roof, “to make time go backward.” Pastis fills this deceptively simple first-person account with humor, puns, turns, and twists—and the final twist gives this friendship tale its surprising depth.
Words and art combine to create a moving story. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781665929622
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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