A keen tale with a teen protagonist who will certainly earn readers’ sympathies and support.
A young, withdrawn girl whom everyone seemingly ignores may be fading away—quite literally—in this YA drama.
Thirteen-year-old Zylia Moss is an invisible girl. That’s how she feels in a large family consisting of her parents, grandmother, and five siblings. At both home and school, people seem oblivious to her presence: It’s as if Zylia appears out of nowhere or vanishes without anyone noticing. Even if she manages to catch folks’ attention, it’s the type she doesn’t want, as when they witness an embarrassing stumble. But Zylia soon fears she’s genuinely disappearing, stemming from the story of Angelica, the long-lost, presumed dead great-aunt she’s never known. Zylia’s dementia-ridden grandmother is convinced that the teenager is just like Angelica, with an apparent ability to fade into another world. Zylia searches for answers in the family’s attic, which contains a few particulars on Angelica, including a diary. But what Zylia ultimately finds is another girl her age who, not unlike Zylia herself, suffers in silence. Zylia wants to help this girl, but once she experiences what she describes as an “out-of-body movement,” she comes dangerously close to Angelica’s supposed fate—vanishing for good. Despite hints of the supernatural, Mount (The Nanny Song, 2018) wisely keeps the story vague. For example, it’s unclear for the majority of the novel whether or not Zylia’s predicament is literal or metaphorical. In either case, the tale effectively addresses adolescent troubles, namely meek, unpopular Zylia’s relentless loneliness. Though supporting characters aren’t typically likable, especially some obnoxious eighth-grade students, the author offers relief with Zylia’s sweet little sister, Ivy; a new friend, Terra Grant; and a genial crush, Josh Pierceton. There’s likewise humor: Most people, other than her family, mispronounce Zylia’s name in varying ways. The prose throughout is precise and illustrative: “There were frozen chunks of ice caught up in places along the water’s edge, but I could hear the liquid flowing below, unimpeded by the temperature.”
A keen tale with a teen protagonist who will certainly earn readers’ sympathies and support.Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9996556-5-8
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Between the Lines Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
