Creech (Chasing Redbird, 1997, etc.) plies the threads of love and loss, separation and belonging, into another deeply felt novel; while it is no sin for a writer to repeatedly explore such themes, a certain sameness is descending upon her books. Dinnie Santolina, 13, loves her family, even though her father is always in search of the next irresistible opportunity and her mother is happy to follow him. But when brother Crick finally gets into enough trouble to go to jail and sister Stella comes home at 16 both married and pregnant, Dinnie finds herself quite suddenly in Switzerland, where Uncle Max is the new headmaster at an international American school. Dinnie has had a lot of experience being the stranger, but here, with her warm and charming aunt and uncle, and among students of many nationalities, she explores the meaning of home through her dreams, the mountains, forests, and towns near Lake Lugano, and a curriculum where her classmates decide that thinking really is homework. She becomes friends with Lila, whose erratic behavior mirrors even more erratic parents, Keisuke, whose fractured English paints word-pictures (“bloomable” for possible), his Spanish girlfriend Belen, and the irrepressible Guthrie, who delights in all things. Metaphors mixed in several languages, dream images of snow and distance, and the bittersweet terrors of adolescence will keep readers turning the pages and regretful to reach the last one. (Fiction. 9-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1998
ISBN: 0-06-026993-6
Page Count: 273
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1998
Doesn’t go beyond face value.
Twelve-year-old Zailey is curious about the world outside her town.
At a very young age, Zailey moved with her grandmother to Gladder Hill, an experimental community that demonizes the Superficial: Children are told tales about the mirror demon, words relating to physical appearance are banned, and authorities go to extreme lengths to keep all reflective surfaces out, even pumping oxygen into the water to keep it cloudy. As an artist with an eidetic memory and a fascination with drawing faces, Zailey feels guilt over her secret sketchbook of portraits and fears it could get her and her grandmother evicted. When a classmate discovers it and confesses that he too wonders what his face looks like, they bond over their shared curiosity about the rest of the world. The first half of the book plods along, slowly showing life in the community. In the second act, an accident gives Zailey a chance to escape and chase after a personal mystery of her own. On one hand, the second story arc is far more compelling, with greater tension. However, it’s built upon distracting implausibilities. Regrettably, the body image themes go underexplored and are never fully integrated into the plot. The conclusion relies on a deus ex machina that undermines the stakes. The town’s rules create a race-blind default (Zailey and her classmates don’t appear to know about the concept of race, although they notice one another’s physical differences).
Doesn’t go beyond face value. (author’s note, resources) (Speculative fiction. 9-14)Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-4926-5535-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Still pedal to the metal, but running on fumes at this point.
Young bandits complete personal quests while creating immense explosions and massive havoc in this high-action trilogy closer.
Playing to his strengths, Stroud strings together a bank robbery, an ambush that nearly sees Scarlett McCain eaten by cannibalistic Tainted, and other increasingly lurid, violent set pieces, propelling a plot that moves along at a breakneck pace to a climactic battle. In interspersed chapters, neither Thomas (the little brother Scarlett was forced to abandon and has been seeking for eight years) nor the faithful sidekick he acquires come off as more than pale reflections of the lead duo as the author moves them mechanically through contrived adventures. Scarlett’s own sidekick Albert Browne’s search for the secret prison where he and other children with psychic powers have been ruthlessly trained is similarly cursorily wrapped up. And what of the series’ broader ongoing struggles with the local slave trade and the corrupt Faith Houses? Here, too, the author drops the ball at the end. Readers who delight in titanic explosions, swashbuckling young troublemakers escaping through hails of gunfire, and foes coming to squishy ends will be pleased; those who like stories that offer more definite closure and their heroes and supporting characters to show meaningful growth, less so. Some racial diversity is cued in the cast surrounding the white leads.
Still pedal to the metal, but running on fumes at this point. (maps) (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593707364
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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