Stories of runaways and survival attract middle-grade readers nearly as well as a short format. This boasts the added attractions of solid, sometimes poetic writing, a great, self-deprecating sense of humor, and a zippy pace that will keep readers interested. Sixteen-year-old Martin Miller has grown up with his widowed Mom Miller in Winnemucca, Nevada. Martin feels entirely comfortable there and resists leaving when his mother marries a wealthy man from Seattle. Just after the wedding, as his Mom and new stepfather leave for an extended European honeymoon, Martin escapes in his Jeep. His gas money takes him as far as Red Rock, Idaho, where he sets up residence in an illegal campsite, hiding his Jeep from the road. He quickly finds a job and enrolls in the local high school. Except for running away, Martin behaves with real responsibility, working, studying, and caring for the “critters” that surround his Jeep. His new girlfriend, however, shoplifts, steals, and eventually reveals Martin’s secret camp. Wyss (A Stranger Here, 1993, etc.) deftly keeps her writing light and her narrative moving, as she leads readers (and Martin) into realizing that his choices reflect his feelings about his mother far more than about leaving Winnemucca. With truly readable style, she balances plot and language in an entirely plausible adventure into growing up that should have wide appeal. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-029783-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2002
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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