A touching, intimate exploration of universal themes of trust, conformity, and the impact of family dynamics.
A Maryland seventh grader prepares to become a bat mitzvah while still worrying about typical middle school challenges.
From the dramatic opening sequence, readers are deeply immersed in 12-year-old Becky’s world, infused with food, friends, and family traditions. As part of a close-knit Jewish family, dark-haired, blue-eyed Becky, a talented flutist, navigates the pressures of observant life as a rabbi’s daughter while comparing herself to her seemingly perfect siblings. From maintaining appearances, to making questionable decisions, to grappling with interfaith relationships, the depiction of loving relationships among Becky and her siblings, parents, friends, and extended family is central to the charm of the story. Becky’s kind-natured good intentions come through in her actions, such as supporting a friend or choosing thoughtful presents for her brothers. But as she discovers the dangers of idealizing those around her and makes her own flawed choices, the tension rises. Employing a dual timeline, Milliner’s sophomore novel juxtaposes poetic present-day vignettes with richly detailed chapters set in the past, together showing Becky’s insights and growth. This heart-wrenching, emotional, compulsively readable work traces the evolution of secrets and lies. From minor omissions to catastrophic revelations, they strain relationships and test unshakable bonds, leading to tragedy but ultimately concluding with hope and a clearer path to self-awareness and understanding.
A touching, intimate exploration of universal themes of trust, conformity, and the impact of family dynamics. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780063311640
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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