by Phil Rink ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
Engaging and thought-proving edutainment, with relatable tween characters facing realistic challenges, primarily from a...
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Bullying and incivility have gotten out of hand at a boy’s school: Can he and his friends find a solution?
In his series of issue-oriented books for a middle school audience, Rink (Jimi & Isaac 5a: The Brain Injury, 2014, etc.) frames his plots involving tween friends Jimi and Isaac around such issues as coping with self-doubt, making and keeping commitments, and dealing with unforeseen life changes. In this 10th installment, told in the first-person voice of Jimi, a jazz saxophonist, self-described science nerd, and wry observer of parental and peer foibles, fighting and arguing have escalated at his middle school. Jimi and his best friend, Isaac, along with Tom and bossy Mallory, get in a shoving match. As punishment, the principal assigns the four to figure out the answer to the increasing incivility on campus. Mallory gets carried away, forming a group called the CIVILians, positive that ordering people to obey her “be nice!” rules is the way to go. Her method receives push back, sometimes literally, from kids resenting being told what to do. Soon, the CIVILians are being harassed by an opposing group called the Savages. Jimi, Isaac, and Tom want to expend as little effort in solving the problem as possible until increasing clashes between the groups indicate there are no easy answers to bringing people together. A favorite science teacher encourages the three boys and Mallory to think about the problem creatively. Rink has a terrific knack for placing relatable characters in realistic situations and giving them (and readers) food for thought, promoting discussion and problem-solving rather than spoon-feeding answers. A nuanced discussion at the dinner table about the definition of a bully awakens Jimi to the fact that bullying can take many forms and cause both physical and emotional harm. The author deftly adds an additional layer to the issue by having Tom express empathy for a bully he injured in order to protect a little kid.
Engaging and thought-proving edutainment, with relatable tween characters facing realistic challenges, primarily from a young male point of view.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-69084-469-3
Page Count: 114
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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