Muddled but entertaining story with a heart of gold.
Grandfather’s will sends a 17-year-old boy on a zany adventure.
Unlike his brother and male cousins, Spencer is not athletic or adventurous. Instead, he’s rather timid, a watcher rather than a doer. That all changes after the reading of his grandfather’s remarkable will, which sends Spencer on a quest to find and get a kiss on the cheek from an aging B-movie actress named Gloria Lorraine. Turns out that Gloria has a larger-than-life theatrical personality, a bulldozer-strong will and an agenda of her own. In the sometimes hard-to-get-a-grip-on madcap adventure that follows, Spencer and Gloria pick up Gloria’s granddaughter, AmberLea (who is under house arrest), and discover that the thumping coming from the back of their “borrowed” Cadillac is being caused by an armed thug and cannoli baker who is tied up in the trunk. In the course of the story, Spencer tangles with Mafia toughs and motorcycle gang members, finding maturity, smarts and personal strength in the process. Like much of the novel, the wingding climax is funny, inventive and hard to follow. The author makes some inexplicable choices affecting reader comprehension. For example, do the two men in Gloria’s young life really need to be named Danny and Davey?
Muddled but entertaining story with a heart of gold. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55469-947-6
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
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