A solid thriller built on some well-meant emotional ideas.
A teenage girl searches for her long-lost mom and accidentally triggers an apocalypse.
Abby Booth’s mom has been missing for five years. While hosting a popular paranormal-investigative TV series, Mrs. Booth entered a mysterious cave in Arizona and never came back. Now 16, Abby reconnects with Charlie, the son of her mother’s missing co-star, and the pair enters the cave for answers. They find their answers, but they also discover gigantic monsters that quickly escape to wreak havoc. As Abby and Charlie navigate the apocalyptic nightmare, Leveen wrestles with subjects ranging from religious historical theory to grief. Abby is a well-drawn character, action and introspection held in a nice balance. The book’s secondary characters are less captivating. Abby’s father grieves, and Charlie handsomely pouts. Charlie’s girlfriend, Selby, sparks as a combative rationalist but is absent for long stretches due to injury. The book’s structure is curious: alternating chapters between two timelines, one after the monsters are unleashed and one leading up to it. Unfortunately, once the monsters are out and about, it’s hard to be interested in the small-scale drama unfolding prior to their arrival. Regardless, the unfolding of cataclysmic events is presented in captivating fashion, making this an entertaining, if not stellar, read. Characters are not cued racially, implying a white default.
A solid thriller built on some well-meant emotional ideas. (Paranormal adventure. 12-16)Pub Date: March 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6633-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Despite some missteps, this will appeal to readers who enjoy a fresh and realistic teen voice.
A teenage, not-so-lonely loner endures the wilds of high school in Austin, Texas.
Norris Kaplan, the protagonist of Philippe’s debut novel, is a hypersweaty, uber-snarky black, Haitian, French-Canadian pushing to survive life in his new school. His professor mom’s new tenure-track job transplants Norris mid–school year, and his biting wit and sarcasm are exposed through his cataloging of his new world in a field guide–style burn book. He’s greeted in his new life by an assortment of acquaintances, Liam, who is white and struggling with depression; Maddie, a self-sacrificing white cheerleader with a heart of gold; and Aarti, his Indian-American love interest who offers connection. Norris’ ego, fueled by his insecurities, often gets in the way of meaningful character development. The scenes showcasing his emotional growth are too brief and, despite foreshadowing, the climax falls flat because he still gets incredible personal access to people he’s hurt. A scene where Norris is confronted by his mother for getting drunk and belligerent with a white cop is diluted by his refusal or inability to grasp the severity of the situation and the resultant minor consequences. The humor is spot-on, as is the representation of the black diaspora; the opportunity for broader conversations about other topics is there, however, the uneven buildup of detailed, meaningful exchanges and the glibness of Norris’ voice detract.
Despite some missteps, this will appeal to readers who enjoy a fresh and realistic teen voice. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-282411-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers...
A harrowing tale of survival in the Killing Fields.
The childhood of Arn Chorn-Pond has been captured for young readers before, in Michelle Lord and Shino Arihara's picture book, A Song for Cambodia (2008). McCormick, known for issue-oriented realism, offers a fictionalized retelling of Chorn-Pond's youth for older readers. McCormick's version begins when the Khmer Rouge marches into 11-year-old Arn's Cambodian neighborhood and forces everyone into the country. Arn doesn't understand what the Khmer Rouge stands for; he only knows that over the next several years he and the other children shrink away on a handful of rice a day, while the corpses of adults pile ever higher in the mango grove. Arn does what he must to survive—and, wherever possible, to protect a small pocket of children and adults around him. Arn's chilling history pulls no punches, trusting its readers to cope with the reality of children forced to participate in murder, torture, sexual exploitation and genocide. This gut-wrenching tale is marred only by the author's choice to use broken English for both dialogue and description. Chorn-Pond, in real life, has spoken eloquently (and fluently) on the influence he's gained by learning English; this prose diminishes both his struggle and his story.
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers will seek out the history themselves. (preface, author's note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-173093-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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