A fluid and inventive journey with a few dead-end detours.
Ruckus presents a YA fantasy novel about a modern girl’s adventures in disparate times and places.
Moliis a young girl from Penglai, China. She travels to London for the funeral of her father, Morris, a museum curator. His last work before his death was on the Rouran period—the Rouran ruled a portion of central Asia, part of which is now modern-day Kyrgyzstan. The exhibit on the Rouran era at the British Museum is not exactly popular; nevertheless, Moli and her aunt Edith dutifully attend, and Moli is able to show off her knowledge about a mythical dragon’s nine sons. Later, things take a turn when Moli is awakened in her hotel room by a dragon called Qiuniu, one of those sons, who leads her to a place in an alternate reality called the Corridor of War. Moli’s situation is further complicated when she travels back through time to the Rouran period. The Rourans think she is a shaman and keep her in a cage. Later, the action moves back to contemporary London, where Moli and three others are tasked with an opportunity to save the world. Their main opposition: Adolf Hitler, transported to the modern era. The story is rich in incident and packed with surprises, but a few elements deflate some of the excitement; at one point, James Walker, a boy who joins Moli on her mission to save the world, has to endure a lengthy lecture about where Covid-19 might have originated (“Many epidemiologists and scientists claimed that the virus could only come from nature, and if a quarter of them still stand by their professional code of conduct, what do you make of the situation then?”). Still, the mixture of time travel, mythology, SF tropes, and a spirited youngster in the lead makes for a truly wild narrative.
A fluid and inventive journey with a few dead-end detours.Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2022
ISBN: 9781915338402
Page Count: 223
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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