Engagingly, this short, fine effort set in the early 1980s compassionately whispers a message of hope.
Twins Jamie and Ned have always explored their seaside world together, but now Ned is dying of cystic fibrosis, and Jamie has to learn how to forge ahead without him.
During their shared adventures they’ve collected the flotsam that’s washed up on the shore. After a storm, the white English boys find in the seaweed a strange creature Ned names Leonard (after Star Trek’s Dr. McCoy), bring the injured animal home, and hide it in a tub in the garage. They quickly realize it may be a merman. Their grandfather, not knowing their secret, relates stories of mermen taking dying people into the sea, but the yarns are ambiguous. Were the dying people saved by the mermen? Ned, the bolder twin, accepts this uncertainty and bonds with Leonard, recognizing their shared fate. Jamie convinces himself that the merman is there to provide a miracle, yet fearing otherwise, he detests the bond his twin has formed. Tender Granddad’s tales provide ample foreshadowing of a tragic end, even though Jamie struggles to prevent it. Ultimately, Ned chooses his own fate, and Jamie is left to cope. In spite of the Kleenex-worthy climax, a gentle, even joyful, conclusion offers a life-affirming message. A character study of the 11-year-olds, cleverly interwoven with Ned’s favorite Star Trek plots, contrasts the dying twin’s bold attitude against Jamie’s cautious reckoning.
Engagingly, this short, fine effort set in the early 1980s compassionately whispers a message of hope. (Historical fiction. 11-16)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-53509-9
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
An intimate novel that beautifully confronts grief and loss.
It’s 1983, and 13-year-old Indian American Reha feels caught between two worlds.
Monday through Friday, she goes to a school where she stands out for not being White but where she has a weekday best friend, Rachel, and does English projects with potential crush Pete. On the weekends, she’s with her other best friend, Sunita (Sunny for short), at gatherings hosted by her Indian community. Reha feels frustrated that her parents refuse to acknowledge her Americanness and insist on raising her with Indian values and habits. Then, on the night of the middle school dance, her mother is admitted to the hospital, and Reha’s world is split in two again: this time, between hospital and home. Suddenly she must learn not just how to be both Indian and American, but also how to live with her mother’s leukemia diagnosis. The sections dealing with Reha’s immigrant identity rely on oft-told themes about the overprotectiveness of immigrant parents and lack the nuance found in later pages. Reha’s story of her evolving relationships with her parents, however, feels layered and real, and the scenes in which Reha must grapple with the possible loss of a parent are beautifully and sensitively rendered. The sophistication of the text makes it a valuable and thought-provoking read even for those older than the protagonist.
An intimate novel that beautifully confronts grief and loss. (Verse novel. 11-15)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-304742-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
