by Toni Runkle ; Stephen Webb ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 3, 2013
Runkle and Webb deliver an empowering message about striving to be true to oneself for middle school readers.
A fashion-savvy eighth-grader’s blog garners the attention of a major company.
Due to her skill in discerning forthcoming fashions, Kat is selected to be an Alpha Girl. As one of 50 throughout the country, Kat is chosen to have a sleepover party featuring a new line of teen products and entered into a contest to become the “Face of Glitter Girl.” However, Kat’s fantastic opportunity soon illuminates the differences between her and best friend, Jules, who is skeptical of the project. It also creates tension in Kat’s developing romance with Jules’ older brother, Kyle. Events culminate in a crisis when Kat discovers that the party to reveal the winner of the contest coincides with Jules’ 14th birthday party. Runkle and Webb’s narrative convincingly conveys the emotions of the characters, allowing readers to consider both sides of Kat and Jules’ conflict. They address dilemmas familiar to young adolescent readers, such as friends growing apart and the longing for acceptance. The authors also include more lighthearted milestones, adeptly portraying the giddiness of first dates and first kisses. By the story’s resolution, Kat demonstrates maturity in evaluating her priorities and accepting responsibility for her choices.
Runkle and Webb deliver an empowering message about striving to be true to oneself for middle school readers. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-8557-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2013
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by Mitali Perkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2010
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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by Jack Gantos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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