A deep, complex look at friendship, loneliness, and yearning to belong.
In Barbados, a boy who’s a social outsider longs to join the group of popular boys at school, even though they’re bullies.
Though he’s more interested in science, especially geology and archaeology, Jermaine feels sure that joining the relay team would impress the Turbo Jets and help keep him safe from being teased for obviously being poorer than the other kids. After a misunderstanding causes a rift between Jermaine and his new friend, Brody, Jermaine’s resolve to join the Turbo Jets is cemented. But during a prank at the cemetery, the boys leave Jermaine trapped in the Chase Vault, which is rumored to be haunted. Jermaine comes face to face with the ghost of Dorcas Chase, who died in 1812. He befriends Dorcas, believing that she’s bringing him good luck, but he quickly discovers that it comes at a high price. But when it turns out that Brody can see Dorcas too, it offers the boys an opportunity to reconcile while trying to help her find eternal rest. The chapters alternate between Jermaine’s and Brody’s third-person points of view, moving the story along quickly. Brody’s shorter chapters unfold in concise, resonant verse, while Jermaine’s are written in evocative prose. Bourne explores bullying, grief, and loneliness with nuance and sensitivity. She also touches upon the complicated, heavy history and impact of slavery. Jermaine is Black, and biracial Brody has a Black father and a white mother.
A deep, complex look at friendship, loneliness, and yearning to belong. (author’s note) (Paranormal. 8-12)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781546116905
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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