An insightful, engaging tale that celebrates the relationship that sisters share.
Having a genius for a sister is a trial for eighth-grader Sammi.
Sammi and Jorgianna are as opposite as their nicknames: Moonbeam and Sunbeam, respectively. Longing to fit in with the popular crowd, Sammi is mystified by her younger sister’s staunchly independent approach to fashion and is envious of her intellectual accomplishments. For Sammi, acceptance by popular girl Patrice represents achieving the pinnacle of popularity at her middle school. When Jorgianna is advanced to eighth grade midyear, Sammi fears her plans for social success will fall apart, especially as Jorgianna rapidly gains admittance into Patrice’s group. Making matters worse, Sammi incurs Patrice’s ire when Sammi’s relationship with Noah, Patrice’s crush, begins to blossom. Soon the sisters are in conflict with each other and mired in Patrice’s subterfuge and schemes. Trueit explores the challenges of the middle school social scene, keenly capturing the girls’ uncertainties. Delving into the complexity of the relationship between sisters, she examines both girls’ perspectives, with each sister contributing to the narrative in alternating chapters. While Sammi struggles with her feelings of mediocrity in the wake of Jorgianna’s exceptional intelligence, Jorgianna also struggles with the isolation she feels as a result of her intellect. As the girls try to discover how to be true to themselves, they ultimately recognize that their best allies are each other.
An insightful, engaging tale that celebrates the relationship that sisters share. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3240-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
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BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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