An Amerasian born 17 years ago—an outcast in her Vietnamese village—dreams of the American soldier who appears with her mother in an old photo. Loi also dreams of Khai, the buffalo tender who returns her love but whose family considers her inferior. To avoid an arranged marriage, Loi stages a fake death and disappears to the streets of distant Ho Chi Minh, where she awaits Khai and considers going to the US as part of a program for Amerasians. When the two are finally reunited, she decides to remain in Vietnam, but arranges for a rascally orphan who's befriended her to gain passage to America. It's unfortunate that the issue of interracial children is not explored here in a cultural or historical context; rather, the author repeatedly reminds readers how beautiful Loi is because of her Caucasian freckles and curly hair—as if those features make her superior to those who ostracize her. That's the wrong message. In every other way, the story is vividly realized: effective and moving, from the people inhabiting these seldom- glimpsed lands to the genuine poignancy surrounding the plight of Amerasians. Glossary. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: April 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-15-277107-7
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite intentions, this tale never connects past to present, resulting in a book with a message but no resonance.
Standish Treadwell, 15, has lost parents, neighbors, best friend: All disappeared from Zone Seven, a post-war occupied territory, into the hellish clutches of the Motherland. Now a new horror approaches.
Though it’s unnamed, the Motherland’s distinguishing features scream “Nazi Germany.” Life in Zone Seven is a dreary round of familiar miseries. Standish and Hector spin fantasies about the far-off tantalizing consumer culture they glimpsed on television (now banned), but they lack a vision of the future beyond vague dreams of rescue. Food is scarce; surveillance constant. Loved ones vanish; teachers beat children to death while classmates look on. Abetting the powerful, residents inform on their neighbors for food. Kindness revealed is punished; solutions are final. Call it Auschwitz lite. Why the brutal state bothers to educate those, like Standish, labeled “impure” (his eyes are of different colors and he’s dyslexic), is unclear. Despite short chapters and simple vocabulary and syntax, the detailed, sadistic violence makes this is a poor choice for younger readers, while oversimplified characters, a feeble setting and inauthentic science make it a tough sell for older ones. In this nuance- and complexity-free world, scarcity rules. Standish dreams of “ice-cream-colored Cadillacs” and drinking “Croca-Colas.” Wealth-disparity, climate change and childhood obesity don’t exist.
Despite intentions, this tale never connects past to present, resulting in a book with a message but no resonance. (Speculative fiction. 13 & up)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6553-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A familiar plotline delivers exactly what readers want: sweet, romantic fun.
Evie Clément unexpectedly finds herself up for the coveted title of Bellegarde Bloom while questioning her growing feelings for the boy who got her there as part of a wager.
Each year in Paris, the Court of Flowers selects the Bellegarde Bloom, the most desirable of the marriageable girls at the ball. Seventeen-year-old Evie, the daughter of a baker, is an unlikely candidate. But Beau Bellegarde has accepted a bet from Julien, his half brother, in exchange for Julien’s inheritance, which forms the bulk of their family’s estate. The challenge: that Beau can make any girl into the Bloom—and thanks to Beau’s secret interventions, Evie secures a nomination. What wasn’t in the plans? Their growing feelings for one another and the added complications of Beau’s dishonesty and a duke’s competing interest in Evie. The chapters switch between Evie’s and Beau’s first-person perspectives, helping readers become aware of feelings and plot points that other characters are not privy to. The pre-revolutionary, early modern setting is cued through mentions of Versailles, carriages, and fashions such as powdered hair. This fun and fluffy story wraps up with a satisfying ending. Most characters present White; Evie’s best friend, Josephine, and some other background characters are Black.
A familiar plotline delivers exactly what readers want: sweet, romantic fun. (Romance. 13-17)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780063238398
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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