An unpolished novel with heart and potential.
Odogun’s debut novel shows a young couple’s world descending into chaos in a Nigerian mining town.
Miriam and Elijah live near Jos, Nigeria, where Miriam works at the local health clinic and Elijah works in security at the mines. The young couple is happy, in love and expecting their first child, who turns out to be two children—twin boys. In a parallel story, just as Miriam gives birth to her boys, two women on their way home from work discover an abandoned baby boy near a school. Handed over to the authorities, the baby grows into a young boy in care of the state. Life then passes happily for 11 years. Miriam and Elijah enroll their twins in a prestigious academy, the same one that the abandoned boy, Yusuf, gains entrance to on a scholarship. While Elijah is away at the ceremony welcoming new students, someone breaks into and robs the office of the mines, where he works, and steals workers’ wages and murders police officers. Elijah was supposed to be on duty at the time, and his replacement had stepped away in search of a drink; their absence casts suspicion over them both. Soon, they find themselves in jail, held on suspicion of conspiracy. From that point on, Elijah and Miriam struggle to clear Elijah’s name and overcome new obstacles, from Elijah’s prison life and solitude, and money woes for Miriam. At the same time, their twin boys meet the formerly abandoned boy, Yusuf, and their fates intertwine. The novel has great promise along with serious yet fixable problems. Most notably, there’s an inconsistent, unappealing style marred by an overabundance of passive statements. Aside from that, grammatical mistakes—i.e., “Though there was no dark spots”—slip in with distracting frequency, and dialogue often sounds unnatural and indiscernible among the numerous characters. However, the author clearly cares for his characters and shows compassion for them. The intriguing plot holds its own, but another round of editing would have made the story truly shine.
An unpolished novel with heart and potential.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-1456796815
Page Count: 248
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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