Jessica’s take on junior high may be superficial, but she brings readers on a funny ride, even if many—perhaps even most—of...
Starting with Sloppy Firsts (2001), McCafferty explored the later teen and early 20s years of angst-ridden Jessica Darling in a five-book series. In this start to a new series, Jessica comes back for younger readers as an angst-ridden (of course) seventh-grader.
Jessica’s older sister, Bethany, took junior high by storm, so popular, well-dressed and successful (in her own eyes) as to become co-captain of the vaunted junior high CHEER TEAM!!! Now she’s offering somewhat terse advice to guide Jessica along her path—perhaps not an altogether desirable one, since Bethany is a bit shallow. Jessica was counting on lots of help from Bridget, but her BFF’s star is rising as rapidly as Jessica’s is setting. Some potential new friends turn out to be less than supportive as well. Jessica, after abject failure at CHEER TEAM!!! tryouts, is chosen to be the anonymous costumed school mascot, a sea gull, a role she clumsily fills all too well. Brief characterizations of teachers and students are often humorously spot-on, and rules, such as those for cutting lines, fully capture the junior high social scene in all its often distressing ignominy.
Jessica’s take on junior high may be superficial, but she brings readers on a funny ride, even if many—perhaps even most—of her problems are not resolved by the end, setting up the next in the series, as expected. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-24499-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Poppy/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
A thrill ride from start to finish for fans of high-speed plank hurdles and scorpion kicks alike.
Kung fu, bicycle racing and an ancient Chinese supersteroid provide the central elements for a spinoff series opener set in the modern era from the creator of the Five Ancestors heptalogy.
Learning to his amazement that his “grandfather” is actually almost 400 years old, orphaned Indiana teenager and gifted trail-bike racer Phoenix finds himself on a fast flight to China after intruders steal the “dragon bone” dietary supplement that has been keeping the beloved old man alive. The quest takes him from Kaifeng—where he falls in with live-wire, if not (as it turns out) entirely trustworthy, beauty Hú Dié, who is as good as he is on a bike and better in a fight—to Texas. There he engages in an extended and violent climactic dust-up with the baddies scheming to (mis)use the dragon bone as a performance enhancer. Stone stirs in characters and locales that connect new series with old. He also mixes plenty of well-informed racing-bike talk and action (on trail and cyclocross courses alike) with spectacular feats of kung fu, battles against well-armed heavies, comedic and sentimental moments, twists of fortune and other conventions of martial-arts tales.
A thrill ride from start to finish for fans of high-speed plank hurdles and scorpion kicks alike. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-87018-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
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More about teachable moments than suplexes and drop kicks. (Fiction. 11-13)
A San Antonio teenager hooks up with a fast-living pro wrestler and discovers the downside of hanging out with risky companions in this sequel to My Father, the Angel of Death (2006).
Junior year’s a drag for Jesse. His mom has moved out; his dad—a star performer on American Championship Wrestling—is hardly ever home; he’s barely getting by in school; and he’s spending far more time on the bench than on the football field. His life takes an exciting turn, though, after his father introduces him to 22-year-old TJ, a cocky up-and-coming wrestler. TJ puts him behind the wheel of a hot car, presses beers on him and takes him to a mixed-martial-arts tournament and a boozy Halloween party. Then, ignoring his own growing uneasiness, Jesse takes a ride with TJ across the border to buy steroids. Glimpses of bouts on Monday Night Mayhem and references to “jobbers,” “smarks” and Mexican luchadores add more atmosphere than actual wrestling action to a tale that is essentially about making better choices. Jesse makes his after he and TJ are robbed and severely beaten in a Nuevo Laredo alleyway—and so do his parents. Sudden changes in point of view add to an unfocused feel.
More about teachable moments than suplexes and drop kicks. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: April 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55885-749-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
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