Outstanding.
In a suburb of the Kenyan city of Eldoret, 14-year-old Kimathi escapes the men with machetes who killed his father during the post-election violence of 2007-2008.
Kim flees with his mother and younger sister, Ngina, to a neighbor’s house, where they hide until it’s safe enough to reach the police station. The novel focuses on the first eight months of Kim and his family’s adjustment to life in a camp for internally displaced people. He attends a local school and befriends twins Sam and Chebi, who, like many kids in the camp, are being raised by a widowed mother. Doctor Tabitha at the camp’s NGO clinic helps the young people deal with the horrors they’ve witnessed, and Kim welcomes this support; his recurring nightmares are painful. The doctor listens while he talks about his former life and present situation: Kenyans from various tribes are crowded together in makeshift housing, and the adults hold on to their bigotry and mistrust. But Kim and his friends overcome these divisions, finding refuge in each other as well as in kind Raju, a man who’s the only Asian camp resident and who shares his books, allowing them moments of escape. Ochieng sheds light on the impact of PTSD, grief, and bigotry through this story conveyed in the compelling voice of a teenage boy. Kim’s courage will speak to readers, and the exploration of the importance of maintaining continuity and pursuing education will resonate.
Outstanding. (author’s note, discussion questions) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798765648698
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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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