by Monique Polak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2013
Best for bibliotherapy.
A teenage thespian becomes romantically involved with her abusive adult acting coach in this straightforward cautionary tale.
Seventeen-year-old Iris is introduced to 31-year-old theater director Mick Horton by her drama teacher during a high school production of Hamlet. Iris, who is playing Ophelia, swoons under Mick’s intense attentions and is soon drawn into a sexual relationship with him. At first, Iris enjoys Mick’s protective manner: “Mick’s not bossy. He’s old-fashioned and romantic. He likes to take charge, and I like how that feels.” But she begins to question the relationship after Mick gets angry and punches a wall—and then her. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Iris’s largely absentee father has recently contacted her on Facebook, and she is telling lie after lie to her mother and friends to cover up her secret liaisons with both men. Iris finally ends the affair after her concerned friends and family stage an intervention, and Mick moves to Australia. The provocative, linear storyline, simple dialogue and textbook development of a typical abusive relationship make this an ideal title for teens who don’t consider themselves readers. Those looking for a more complex depiction of dating violence should try Sarah Dessen’s Dreamland (2000) or Chris Lynch’s Inexcusable (2005).
Best for bibliotherapy. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4598-0136-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013
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by Jerry Spinelli ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli.
For two teenagers, a small town’s annual cautionary ritual becomes both a life- and a death-changing experience.
On the second Wednesday in June, every eighth grader in Amber Springs, Pennsylvania, gets a black shirt, the name and picture of a teen killed the previous year through reckless behavior—and the silent treatment from everyone in town. Like many of his classmates, shy, self-conscious Robbie “Worm” Tarnauer has been looking forward to Dead Wed as a day for cutting loose rather than sober reflection…until he finds himself talking to a strange girl or, as she would have it, “spectral maiden,” only he can see or touch. Becca Finch is as surprised and confused as Worm, only remembering losing control of her car on an icy slope that past Christmas Eve. But being (or having been, anyway) a more outgoing sort, she sees their encounter as a sign that she’s got a mission. What follows, in a long conversational ramble through town and beyond, is a day at once ordinary yet rich in discovery and self-discovery—not just for Worm, but for Becca too, with a climactic twist that leaves both ready, or readier, for whatever may come next. Spinelli shines at setting a tongue-in-cheek tone for a tale with serious underpinnings, and as in Stargirl (2000), readers will be swept into the relationship that develops between this adolescent odd couple. Characters follow a White default.
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30667-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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by Jerry Spinelli ; illustrated by Larry Day
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by Jerry Spinelli ; illustrated by LeUyen Pham
by Marie Lu ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 29, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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