Standard summer-camp–centric fare: Meatballs with bullies.
Will Camp Wy-Mee get the best of Rodney Rathbone, or can he survive bullies in the wild?
Twelve-year-old Rodney survived his first school year in Ohio thanks to luck and bully-avoidance skills (How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying, 2012). His plans for spending the summer with new friends (and girlfriend) are shattered when his parents decide to send him to camp without asking what he wants. (Were they prompted to send him by nefarious forces?) Even worse, school bully Josh Dumbrowski's headed for camp, too. Once there, Rodney finds Josh is small potatoes when it comes to bullying; Todd Vanderdick (seriously) and his snooty friends are ready to make Rodney's summer unbearable. To top it off, Mrs. Periwinkle, the camp owner, and her staff have it in for Rodney from the get-go. Rodney and his quirky cabin mates make the best of strange situations; but when the future of the camp rests on their shoulders, will they be up to the task? Starkey’s second title featuring unconventional bully-bester Rodney again has a few pop-culture references that will sail over the heads of the target audience. Several characters’ obsessive focus on girls further narrows the age range. Rodney's snarky narration can be funny, but his double standard on two-timing (it's okay for boys, not girls) and his judgmental nature (despite protestations to the contrary) make him less than admirable.
Standard summer-camp–centric fare: Meatballs with bullies. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5674-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Readers will empathize as April displays spunk and resilience in addressing her mistakes and remaining true to herself
April’s much-anticipated eighth-grade year rapidly devolves into a debacle.
After a turbulent summer (Can You Say Catastrophe, 2013), 13-year-old April is excited for the new school year. She has been dating Billy for a month, and she has reconciled with her BFF, Brynn. However, new challenges arrive with the new year. April’s relationship with Brynn is jeopardized when an opportunity to try out for the high school dance team results in April being selected to join the team while Brynn is not. Familiar characters return as Friedman focuses on April’s relationship quandaries: her problems with Brynn, her mixed feelings regarding her relationship with Billy, and her perplexing interactions with the enigmatic boy next door, Matt. The journal format provides insight into April’s emotional life as she expresses her inner turmoil with poignant honesty. Friedman sensitively explores the emotional upheavals that sometimes accompany the middle school years. The revelation of April’s clandestine kiss with Matt wreaks havoc in her life. April’s lament, “Can a girl make a mistake without her life falling apart?” highlights the intense pressures of middle school social life. Relying on the sage counsel of both her grandmother and father, April navigates her way.
Readers will empathize as April displays spunk and resilience in addressing her mistakes and remaining true to herself . (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-0926-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Overstuffed with issues, as are many first novels, but casting the apparent underdog as the bully is a provocative change of...
Lousy (so to speak) choices in second grade lead to a climactic clash in sixth amid a whirl of clogged and exploding toilets, revenge gone awry, secret vice, and world-class rump rippers.
The last, supplied by a secondary character, bookend years of only-sometimes-successful pranks that Chub plays on ex-bestie Archer for abandoning him to general scorn and mockery after an experiment with industrial-strength lice killer leaves him permanently bald. Chub’s nonstop campaign of sabotage and other antics is capped, following his discovery that both Archer (aka “Mr. Perfect”) and the school principal are gambling addicts who are heavily in hock, by one last epic (if massively implausible) exploit at a poker tournament. He comes away with a dazzling lode of greenbacks—but also another sort of payoff as new views on the respective values of vengeance and of friendship prompt a selfless move toward real reconciliation. Chub and his hardworking parents are white, Polish immigrants; otherwise, aside from passing mention of a student’s Afro, he takes no notice of race or ethnicity in his narrative.
Overstuffed with issues, as are many first novels, but casting the apparent underdog as the bully is a provocative change of pace, and the many lamebrain stunts and alimentary jokes are at least sniggerworthy. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6420-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Aladdin/MAX
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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