Tessa’s ferocious competitiveness is appealing, though her ambivalence about football gives the lie to the...
Whether a girl might want to play football is the thread that holds together this dual narrative of a sports novel and a budding romance, told in alternating voices by the two sweethearts.
Eighth-grader Tessa is a competitive cross-country runner, showing impressive speed and assured of a place on that team when she heads to high school next fall. At 14, she is attracted to Caleb, a boy she regularly plays flag football with. Pickup games here and there slowly develop into a sweet first courtship. Over the summer, Caleb endures dangerous but routine hazing as he casually follows in his older brother's footsteps, while Tessa is pulled into her mother's campaign for mayor. Partly in rebellion and partly for attention, Tessa announces in a press interview that she plans to go out for football. Caleb's chapters show him wrestling with his ideas about his own future as well as his growing interest in Tessa. Outwardly she seems committed to football, but uncertainty comes through in her chapters as she encounters the brutal physicality of football camp. Both narratives are straightforward and readable. Tessa is shown as white on the cover; Caleb also reads as white. While the narrative twice states that more than 1,600 girls actually play football in high school, it is oddly ambiguous about Tessa's future in the sport.
Tessa’s ferocious competitiveness is appealing, though her ambivalence about football gives the lie to the determined-looking girl on the cover. (Fiction. 11-15)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-74183-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sixteen-year-old Gracie and Savanna are best friends and opposites. Gorgeous Savanna likes boys and the mall; Gracie likes the environment and doing well in school. Gracie’s journey to understanding that some friends are toxic would be stronger if Savanna were written as appealing in any way. Though Gracie assures readers that she has a good time with her BFF, all they will see in Savanna is a liar who cheats on her boyfriend, uses her best friend and is cruel to her friends behind their backs. When Gracie starts to develop a relationship with quirky Zebediah Cooper, Savanna does her darndest to sabotage her friend’s happiness. Luckily, Gracie and Zeb bond over their do-gooder natures, although their causes vibe as painted-on quirks rather than sincerely held beliefs—somebody should tell Gracie that despite her family’s annual “Remember the Wampanoag Day” celebration, feeling like “the last Wampanoag” is dismissive of the 2,000 living members of the Wampanoag nation. At least Gracie and Zeb manage to fumble their way into a satisfying conclusion. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4555-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
Basing her novel on a one-page story written by an 11-year-old child shortly before her death from leukemia, Bennett (Life in the Fat Lane, 1998, etc.) creates a tale of courage personified. A herd of miniature zebras appears before Becky Zaslow on the day she is diagnosed with childhood cancer—leukemia. During times of painful treatment, the zebras take Becky away to Africa and the Serengeti where they fight off tough predators, cross the treacherous crocodile-filled Mara River, and tell tales about Zink, a mythological polka-dotted zebra. Becky’s secret journal outlines the course of each treatment and is interspersed with the tale of these playful zebras; they help her to remain courageous despite her fears. The zebras, not medical professionals, prepare Becky for death when her bone marrow transplant fails and she succumbs to a respiratory infection. As one of the zebras, Ice Z, tells her, “True courage is admitting we’re afraid and fighting the predators anyway.” After her death, Becky, as Zink, joins the zebra herd. With three pages of acknowledgments and a lengthy afterword, readers may gain more than they need to know about the true aspects of this poignant story, but the embellishments don’t interfere with the raw emotions explored, or the power of Becky’s journey as she learns to run with the herd. (glossary) (Fiction 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-385-32669-6
Page Count: 222
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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