by Tamika Burgess ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 3, 2023
Prejudice can show up anywhere; this smart, rich novel deserves to be read everywhere.
Sixth grade changes Sicily Jordan’s whole world and how she sees herself.
Sicily lives in San Diego with her parents; older brother, Enrique; and paternal grandmother. While she and her mother are darker-skinned Black Panamanians, Sicily’s father; his mother, Abuela Belén; and Enrique are much lighter, yet it’s never been much of an issue before, as they all share and celebrate Panameño heritage. Sicily has a tightknit friend group of Black girls who, due to school zone borders, won’t be going to her new school with her. At Shirley Chisholm Middle, while also working tirelessly on challenging school assignments and friendships, culture and identity become a stressful focus for Sicily. Her classmates find the existence of Afro-Latine people inherently confusing and say so in hurtful ways. Meanwhile at home, Abuela Belén’s deep-seated colorism and racism boil over into hostile interactions with her vulnerable granddaughter. Sicily feels attacked from all angles, and while supportive conversations with close friends and family are heartening, her convictions as a writer like her late Abuelo and a researcher of her own heritage impressively model the ways an ordinary girl—consistently serving fab lip gloss looks—can be an extraordinary self-advocate even when she shouldn’t have to be. The laudable culmination presents all Sicily has learned about herself and Panamanian history and, in doing so, offers a striking learning opportunity for those who struggle with understanding cultural and racial differences.
Prejudice can show up anywhere; this smart, rich novel deserves to be read everywhere. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-315960-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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by Christina Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 2021
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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by Elinor Teele ; illustrated by Ben Whitehouse ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2016
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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