by Paul Durham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 9, 2018
Whether or not it’s planned, readers will hope for a sequel.
Chills and chuckles abound in Durham’s latest for middle graders.
Penhallow Fitch wants to make one thing clear: he is a Grotesque—not a gargoyle. Moving his stone form is excruciatingly difficult, but he is easily able to travel outside of his stone body as a “wisp,” “an apparition that exists but can’t touch or be touched by the living.” Even though he’s about 130 years old, he tells readers that he still prefers to take the form of a preteen boy with skin that is “maybe…darker than yours, or lighter.” Every Grotesque is charged with protecting those who reside within their Domain—in Penhallow’s case, a Boston apartment building. Soon, however, Netherkin—evil spirits—begin encroaching on Penhallow’s Domain, drawn particularly to a new family in the building. And there are whispers about a creature called the Boneless King. Determined to protect his wards, Penhallow teams up with a girl nicknamed Viola who can, against all odds, see and hear him, and together they work to uncover the mystery of the Boneless King and his connection to Penhallow’s Domain. Penhallow’s dynamic first-person narration provides just the right mix of humor and horror to spook but not terrify. A tidy wrap-up, while heavy on exposition, satisfies while still leaving potential for further tales. A glossary of “goyle-isms” is appended. Human characters are nominally diverse—the Domain’s residents are multicultural, and Viola is described as having East Asian features—but there is no attempt at cultural specificity.
Whether or not it’s planned, readers will hope for a sequel. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-0020-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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by Paul Durham ; illustrated by Pétur Antonsson
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by Louis Sachar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1998
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
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by Louis Sachar ; illustrated by Tim Heitz
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by Dan Gemeinhart ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change.
Coyote hits the highway again in this follow-up to 2019’s The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.
Set one year later, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, this sequel finds Coyote Sunrise and her father, Rodeo, both cued white, having settled into a house in Oregon, with Rodeo receiving counseling and Coyote attending school for the first time in five years. But with school canceled for three weeks, it’s the perfect time for father and daughter to traverse the country in their bus. They’re off in search of a lost volume of poetry by Mary Oliver in which Coyote’s mother wrote down the location where they should scatter her ashes. As before, the pair accumulate a motley assemblage of fellow travelers who fall under the spell of the quirky duo. Coyote’s narrative flair propels the novel, but the emotional underpinnings have shifted. Thirteen-year-old Coyote’s parentified role has lessened, and, aggravated by challenges with classmates, she displays a believably volatile early-adolescent tone in her narration and behavior. Her friend Salvador, who’s Latine, is an empathetic, well-developed character. Thanks to Gemeinhart’s trademark compassion, each character participates in moments of poignant humanity, but many supporting characters feel more lightly sketched in, including Thai American former corporate lawyer Wally, who experiences anti-Asian racism related to the unfolding pandemic; purple-haired coder Candace, Rodeo’s new girlfriend; and a grieving older Englishwoman named Doreen.
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781250292773
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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