A lyrical story that delves into the emotional truths of mental illness.
When anxiety creates a wedge between sisters, how far will they drift apart?
Twelve-year-old identical twins Maya and Chaya face life side by side and have boundless love for each other. Maya is superstitious, a perfectionist, and struggles with anxiety. Chaya, the younger twin, is freer and more easygoing and looks up to her sister. Their Indian American family’s life includes drama, with the girls’ constantly arguing parents feeling strain in their marriage, the stark contrast of a carefree 6-year-old brother, and family friends who know too much about everything. Written in verse in the girls’ alternating voices, the novel immediately shows readers the differences in mindset between the two sisters. LaRocca deftly uses music as an emotional soundtrack for mental illness: Both girls excel at classical piano, yet Maya’s perfectionism pushes her to harm herself. Protective Chaya switches to musical theater to reduce the competitive burden on Maya, but this backfires, increasing the anxiety levels for both. The verse form crystalizes the action, growing with the pressures these girls put on themselves. Seeing the same events through the eyes of each twin provides a glimpse into the insidious nature of unchecked anxiety. The ending is realistically untidy, yet clearly, hope has overpowered shame and guilt in this imperfect family.
A lyrical story that delves into the emotional truths of mental illness. (Verse fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-304747-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and...
Good has won every fairy-tale contest with Evil for centuries, but a dark sorcerer’s scheme to turn the tables comes to fruition in this ponderous closer.
Broadening conflict swirls around frenemies Agatha and Sophie as the latter joins rejuvenated School Master Rafal, who has dispatched an army of villains from Capt. Hook to various evil stepmothers to take stabs (literally) at changing the ends of their stories. Meanwhile, amid a general slaughter of dwarves and billy goats, Agatha and her rigid but educable true love, Tedros, flee for protection to the League of Thirteen. This turns out to be a company of geriatric versions of characters, from Hansel and Gretel (in wheelchairs) to fat and shrewish Cinderella, led by an enigmatic Merlin. As the tale moves slowly toward climactic battles and choices, Chainani further lightens the load by stuffing it with memes ranging from a magic ring that must be destroyed and a “maleficent” gown for Sophie to this oddly familiar line: “Of all the tales in all the kingdoms in all the Woods, you had to walk into mine.” Rafal’s plan turns out to be an attempt to prove that love can be twisted into an instrument of Evil. Though the proposition eventually founders on the twin rocks of true friendship and family ties, talk of “balance” in the aftermath at least promises to give Evil a fighting chance in future fairy tales. Bruno’s polished vignettes at each chapter’s head and elsewhere add sophisticated visual notes.
Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and flashes of hilarity. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-210495-3
Page Count: 672
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2015
This debut is a treasure: a gift to every middle school girl who ever felt unpretty, unloved, and trapped by her...
In pursuit of her dreams, Vanessa becomes an unlikely contestant in her middle school’s first-ever pageant.
African-American eighth-grader Vanessa Martin is glued to the TV when Vanessa Williams is crowned the first black Miss America in 1983. Inspired, Vanessa imagines her own dreams coming true. Maybe she can rise above her painful family problems and dissatisfaction with her dark skin. Maybe she can escape her gang- and drug-plagued neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. But when the new music teacher, Mrs. Walton, who is white, encourages Vanessa to audition for the school’s first-ever pageant, she declines. She has an extraordinary singing voice but lacks the confidence to compete. When Mrs. Walton, Vanessa’s grandpa Pop Pop, and her cousin TJ join forces to get her to try out, she must face her fears—and the neighborhood mean girl—to have a shot at realizing her dreams. Vanessa’s compelling story unfolds through a combination of first-person narrative, diary entries, and well-crafted poems that perfectly capture the teen voice and perspective. From the first page, readers are drawn into Vanessa’s world, a place of poverty, abandonment, and secrets—and abiding love and care. The soundscape of early rap music helps bring the ’80s to life and amplifies Vanessa’s concerns about racism, friendship, family, and her future. Readers of all ages and backgrounds will cheer Vanessa on and see themselves in her story.
This debut is a treasure: a gift to every middle school girl who ever felt unpretty, unloved, and trapped by her circumstances. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-777-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
