Equally demeaning to geeks, women and teen boys, the appeal to the lowest common denominator is safely assured. (Adventure....
A wildly improbable male teen fantasy of a super-sexy robot and the two geeks who discover it only to realize too late that they are messing with top-secret government property.
Gabe and Dover establish their nerd bona fides to readers early on when they are dumped into actual garbage. The plot kicks in when they sneak into Gabe’s genius father’s lab and discover T.R.I.N.A., a gorgeous, biologically realistic “female” robot they are sure will raise their status out of the Dumpster. The two manage to activate Trina after first checking for underwear. There is none. The sophomoric humor is endlessly fueled by a crassly juvenile sexual focus that supposedly matches typical adolescent fantasies. Gabe finds himself thinking of Trina as a romantic partner and grows offended by Dover’s single-minded obsession with sex as they first lose and then furiously chase their robot to a high-school drinking party and ultimately into a clash with top-secret agents. None of this is particularly funny, realistic or clever. However, that shouldn’t keep its target audience from enjoying this fast-paced, mindless adventure. A subplot in which Gabe suffers from his father’s intimidating and browbeating parenting style is similarly unsatisfying.
Equally demeaning to geeks, women and teen boys, the appeal to the lowest common denominator is safely assured. (Adventure. 11-15)Pub Date: July 21, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59514-372-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli.
For two teenagers, a small town’s annual cautionary ritual becomes both a life- and a death-changing experience.
On the second Wednesday in June, every eighth grader in Amber Springs, Pennsylvania, gets a black shirt, the name and picture of a teen killed the previous year through reckless behavior—and the silent treatment from everyone in town. Like many of his classmates, shy, self-conscious Robbie “Worm” Tarnauer has been looking forward to Dead Wed as a day for cutting loose rather than sober reflection…until he finds himself talking to a strange girl or, as she would have it, “spectral maiden,” only he can see or touch. Becca Finch is as surprised and confused as Worm, only remembering losing control of her car on an icy slope that past Christmas Eve. But being (or having been, anyway) a more outgoing sort, she sees their encounter as a sign that she’s got a mission. What follows, in a long conversational ramble through town and beyond, is a day at once ordinary yet rich in discovery and self-discovery—not just for Worm, but for Becca too, with a climactic twist that leaves both ready, or readier, for whatever may come next. Spinelli shines at setting a tongue-in-cheek tone for a tale with serious underpinnings, and as in Stargirl (2000), readers will be swept into the relationship that develops between this adolescent odd couple. Characters follow a White default.
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30667-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
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