A story rife with unusual honesty and hope.
A young teen loner gradually learns to accept the friendship of an outspoken girl in this problem novel filled with likable, idiosyncratic characters.
Travis is filled with sullen resentment toward his recovering alcoholic grandfather, who moved them away from their old house despite Travis’s devastation having to leave behind his lost dog, Rosco. At his new school, Travis is surprised to land on the radar of confident, kind Velveeta, and he increasingly looks forward to her friendly overtures each day, even as he worries that she might discover a secret of which he's deeply ashamed. In the meantime, Velveeta struggles with family trouble of her own and with the loss of a dear friend. A cast of richly developed characters peoples this work of contemporary fiction, told in the third person from Travis' point of view, with first-person vignettes from Velveeta's perspective peppered throughout. An ongoing reference to Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2006) serves the themes of this novel well. Both teens have adults outside of their families whom they are able to trust, but at times these adults feel a little too heart-of-gold idealized—sadly, it's somehow hard to picture a public librarian actually giving a key to the building to a kid whose home isn't a safe place. Fortunately, these clichéd moments are brief.
A story rife with unusual honesty and hope. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5334-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
Football forms the backbone, but music courses through the veins of a dynamic but thoughtful novel of self-discovery
First-generation rich boy Jack is shipped off to prestigious Oakhurst Hall, where he makes varsity football as a walk-on, molds potheads into a recording-worthy band, wows teachers with his insightful writing and meets the intriguing Caroline—but Jack’s a teen, so there’s plenty of angst and self-analysis, too.
Even with mom long-gone to do “good work” in Guatemala (apparently unconcerned about “the work she hasn’t finished” in raising her son), a father obsessed with work, a kind but inexperienced stepmother, and little home support for his loves of music and running, Jack knows he has more going for him than most. But he’s still a teen away from home facing life-altering decisions: bulk up through weightlifting alone, or try steroids? Go with Dad’s “try harder than the people on each side of you” competitive advice or his coach’s “[you’re] playing for the men on each side of you” message? Buck school tradition, or go along to get along? The compressed time frame (football season) and deep bench of characters necessitate skimming over profound development, but the pace is fast and the writing clean, entertaining and candid. An appealing mix of teen confusion and potential, Jack’s greatest threat is his ’roid-raging teammates’ late hits, but a happy outcome is never really in doubt.
Football forms the backbone, but music courses through the veins of a dynamic but thoughtful novel of self-discovery .(Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25055-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Simple and powerful.
Easily angered Jair picks a fight with outsider Zander in a compassionate and efficiently told tale.
Berated by his father and responsible for his two younger siblings, Jair takes comfort in the fact that pretty, popular Keisha has just chatted with him online. When Zander, a new kid from LA, shows up at school wearing aqua and purple clothing and immediately gains Keisha’s attention, Jair decides Zander needs “to be taught a lesson.” The story is told from both teens’ perspectives, and in Zander’s chapters, readers see a different story: The son of an Air Force colonel and a mother deployed to Afghanistan, Zander has moved repeatedly from place to place, is constantly picked on for being a new kid and has developed fighting skills to keep the bullies away. Trying to turn over a new leaf, Zander tries his hardest to refuse to fight Jair; when Jair corners him, however, Zander wins their fight, and Jair leaves humiliated. Complicated and timely topics, from cyberbullying to homophobia, are treated carefully here. Jair’s decision to seek out a gun to prove his toughness feels at once believable and dangerous, but this is no scare-’em-straight story. Instead, the tension between Jair and Zander resolves in a way that feels true to their characters and avoids both melodrama and triteness.
Simple and powerful. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62250-705-4
Page Count: 140
Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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