An inspiring tale of friendship and conservation.
Sometimes a huge mistake might just help save the world.
After his parents’ divorce, seventh grader Jeremy “JB” Barnes finds himself spending the summer with his mom aboard the Oceania II, a scientific research vessel. Homesick and far away from his friends, JB can’t wait for his time at sea to be over. Lonely Sidney Miller plans to spend a quiet summer in Seattle with her grandmother but can’t believe her luck when she receives an invitation to attend a clean water summit focused on bringing attention to the plastic pollution crisis consuming the Earth’s oceans. Sidney quickly realizes that a clerical error is responsible for her invite—the message was intended for adult scientist Dr. Sidney Miller—but decides that a series of meaningful coincidences means that she is fated to board the Oceania II and make an impact. JB’s and Sidney’s paths collide, and they become fast friends and allies. Now, they’ll need to find a way to bring global attention to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the vital work scientists and environmental activists are doing to solve the problem—before Sidney’s stowaway status is discovered. With heart and humor, JB and Sidney remind readers of the difference young people can make when they take the lead on environmental activism. Superlative writing and character development uplift this timely story. Central characters are assumed White.
An inspiring tale of friendship and conservation. (author's note) (Fiction. 9-14)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-79351-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
Korman’s trademark humor makes this an appealing read.
Will a bully always be a bully?
That’s the question eighth-grade football captain Chase Ambrose has to answer for himself after a fall from his roof leaves him with no memory of who and what he was. When he returns to Hiawassee Middle School, everything and everyone is new. The football players can hardly wait for him to come back to lead the team. Two, Bear Bratsky and Aaron Hakimian, seem to be special friends, but he’s not sure what they share. Other classmates seem fearful; he doesn’t know why. Temporarily barred from football because of his concussion, he finds a new home in the video club and, over time, develops a new reputation. He shoots videos with former bullying target Brendan Espinoza and even with Shoshanna Weber, who’d hated him passionately for persecuting her twin brother, Joel. Chase voluntarily continues visiting the nursing home where he’d been ordered to do community service before his fall, making a special friend of a decorated Korean War veteran. As his memories slowly return and he begins to piece together his former life, he’s appalled. His crimes were worse than bullying. Will he become that kind of person again? Set in the present day and told in the alternating voices of Chase and several classmates, this finding-your-middle-school-identity story explores provocative territory. Aside from naming conventions, the book subscribes to the white default.
Korman’s trademark humor makes this an appealing read. (Fiction. 9-14)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-05377-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
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