When Sadie and Zuzu’s family moves from Texas to their grandmother’s house in Salt Lake City, they explore an attic cubby (marked “Palace Beautiful”) and discover a diary written by a young girl who lived in the house during the flu epidemic of 1918. The diary becomes a magnet for the sisters and their new friend from next door, Bella (for Belladonna), who wears black and is mistreated by her mother. As the three girls read the diary aloud by candlelight, the hardships described in the journal become a parallel story about a baby brother dying, Sadie’s pregnant stepmother and family relationships. The modern plot line is dragged down by two devices: Sadie’s conviction that each person came into the world in a different, fanciful way and her tiresome penchant for characterizing colors that label the chapters—Wide-Awake Red, Bubbly-Churning Green. The only textual marker rising from the mid-’80s time frame is the stepmother’s cosmetic parties, where she tells everyone they look like Jackie O., a reference that will likely mystify modern readers. The journal entries, which are the heart of the story, override the distractions. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-399-25298-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series.
An orphaned street urchin is recruited into an elite school for thieves.
In an alternate world where France is the dominant world power, 13-year-old Tom Morgan has had to scrimp, starve, and steal on the streets of London to survive. Born into a workhouse, he doesn’t know anything about his father, while his mother may have been from North Africa. One thing he does know is the sort of cruelty that awaits the poor who are sent to the workhouse, and he’s determined not to go back. But when their camp is raided and his friends are captured by workhouse agents, the only thing Tom can think of is how to get them out. Enter the Corsair, a cunning and mysterious man with a proposition: He wants to recruit Tom into Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts. From nabbing treasures to forging identity papers, Beaufort’s promises to teach Tom everything he needs to know to become a Shadow Thief and a member of the Shadow League, the secret global organization that helps keep the world’s political power in balance. But Beaufort’s has its own rules and secrets, and if Tom is to survive long enough to help his friends, he’ll need to figure them out quickly. Clever and gripping, this fast-paced boarding school story will appeal to fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Spy School series.
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series. (Adventure. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781665982283
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
A poignant and achingly beautiful narrative shedding light on the price of a violent sport.
An African American preteen finds his world upended when his father, a retired professional football player, displays symptoms of traumatic brain injury.
Twelve-year-old Zachariah “ZJ” Johnson Jr. loves his dad but wonders who he would be if his dad was not a famous athlete. Although his dad is in the spotlight, he is full of love and attention for ZJ and his friends. And fortunately, ZJ has three friends who see him and not his father’s shadow. “Zachariah 44” was a fearless player who suffered many concussions during his playing career. The changes in his father begin slowly and intermittently. Soon the headaches and memory lapses grow increasingly frequent and scary for ZJ and his mom, since the doctors do not seem to have any answers. As his dad slips further away, ZJ’s memories of better times grow closer than ever. Using spare and lyrical language for ZJ’s present-tense narration, which moves back and forth through time, Woodson skillfully portrays the confusion, fear, and sadness when a family member suffers from brain injury and the personality changes it brings. Readers see Zachariah Sr. through ZJ’s eyes and agonize with him as the strong, vibrant athlete begins to fade. The well-rounded secondary characters complete a mosaic of a loving African American family and their community of friends. The tale is set in the early 2000s, as awareness of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and its catastrophic consequences was beginning to emerge.
A poignant and achingly beautiful narrative shedding light on the price of a violent sport. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-399-54543-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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