In general, this is an enjoyable read about coping with bullying, an unfortunately evergreen situation.
This debut focuses on a familiar character in middle-grade lit, the perennially bullied kid—except this time, he's unexpectedly victorious, early in the story.
The twist to bullying victim Rodney's story makes this stand out from other books on the topic, and it also allows for some humor. He was bullied in his old school in Brooklyn; when his family moves to Ohio, he expects (and gets) more of this same. It's only due to blind luck that a stray baseball hits bully Josh, and the kids all think Rodney threw it. Rodney's problem then morphs from the typical coping-with-a-bully challenge to figuring out how he's going to keep up his misbegotten reputation as a tough guy. First-time novelist Starkey gets kids' voices and anxieties mostly right and clearly understands the playground dynamic. However, there are many pop-culture references here, including some that kids will get, such as, " 'Mmmmmmm …White Castle,' my dad murmured, sounding a lot like Homer Simpson"; a typical reader might not recognize others, such as a reference to a dilapidated house on Halloween: "I thought we lived in Garrettsville, not Amityville." Some have more of an impact than others on a young reader's ability to follow the storyline.
In general, this is an enjoyable read about coping with bullying, an unfortunately evergreen situation. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-1685-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean.
A 12-year-old copes with a brain tumor.
Maddie likes potatoes and fake mustaches. Kids at school are nice (except one whom readers will see instantly is a bully); soon they’ll get to perform Shakespeare scenes in a unit they’ve all been looking forward to. But recent dysfunctions in Maddie’s arm and leg mean, stunningly, that she has a brain tumor. She has two surgeries, the first successful, the second taking place after the book’s end, leaving readers hanging. The tumor’s not malignant, but it—or the surgeries—could cause sight loss, personality change, or death. The descriptions of surgery aren’t for the faint of heart. The authors—parents of a real-life Maddie who really had a brain tumor—imbue fictional Maddie’s first-person narration with quirky turns of phrase (“For the love of potatoes!”) and whimsy (she imagines her medical battles as epic fantasy fights and pretends MRI stands for Mustard Rat from Indiana or Mustaches Rock Importantly), but they also portray her as a model sick kid. She’s frightened but never acts out, snaps, or resists. Her most frequent commentary about the tumor, having her skull opened, and the possibility of death is “Boo” or “Super boo.” She even shoulders the bully’s redemption. Maddie and most characters are white; one cringe-inducing hallucinatory surgery dream involves “chanting island natives” and a “witch doctor lady.”
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean. (authors’ note, discussion questions) (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62972-330-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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