When his family returns to their Michigan lakeside cottage for the summer of 1974, “almost” 13-year-old Kyle’s usual excitement quells as he confronts the realities of change. Kyle loves the lake and its summer rituals, so returning seems “like a homecoming” even though it’s different since his grandmother died and his dad moved out. After his mother unexpectedly lists the cottage with a realtor, Kyle feels like a “time bomb ready to explode,” until he opts to savor this last summer at the lake. He accepts a daily job taking an elderly neighbor fishing, teaches his younger brother to fish and swim and explores the lake’s mysterious island on his own. As Kyle traces his summer in the first person, he matures convincingly from a frustrated, angry kid into a thoughtful teen who accepts responsibility and wisely learns that “[m]ostly we don’t know, about other people.” A poignant coming-of-age story rooted in realistic family relationships and lovingly glossed with the wonders of summer on a lake. (Historical fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-316-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FAMILY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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In a meditative interracial love story with a wrenching climactic twist, Woodson (The House You Pass on the Way, 1997, etc.) offers an appealing pair of teenagers and plenty of intellectual grist, before ending her story with a senseless act of violence.
Jeremiah and Elisha bond from the moment they collide in the hall of their Manhattan prep school: He’s the only child of celebrity parents; she’s the youngest by ten years in a large family. Not only sharply sensitive to the reactions of those around them, Ellie and Miah also discover depths and complexities in their own intense feelings that connect clearly to their experiences, their social environment, and their own characters. In quiet conversations and encounters, Woodson perceptively explores varieties of love, trust, and friendship, as she develops well-articulated histories for both families. Suddenly Miah, forgetting his father’s warning never to be seen running in a white neighborhood, exuberantly dashes into a park and is shot down by police. The parting thought that, willy-nilly, time moves on will be a colder comfort for stunned readers than it evidently is for Ellie.
Miah’s melodramatic death overshadows a tale as rich in social and personal insight as any of Woodson’s previous books. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-23112-9
Page Count: 181
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1998
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Witty repartee between the central characters, as well as the occasional well-done set piece, isn’t enough to hold this hefty debut together. Teenagers Seth and Kendra are dropped off by traveling parents at their grandfather’s isolated Connecticut estate, and soon discover why he’s so reluctant to have them—the place is a secret haven for magical creatures, both benign and decidedly otherwise. Those others are held in check by a complicated, unwritten and conveniently malleable Compact that is broken on Midsummer Eve, leaving everyone except Kendra captive in a hidden underground chamber with a newly released demon. Mull’s repeated use of the same device to prod the plot along comes off as more labored than comic: Over and over an adult issues a stern but vague warning; Seth ignores it; does some mischief and is sorry afterward. Sometimes Kendra joins in trying to head off her uncommonly dense brother. She comes into her own at the rousing climax, but that takes a long time to arrive; stick with Michael Buckley’s “Sisters Grimm” tales, which carry a similar premise in more amazing and amusing directions. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-59038-581-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
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