Wholesome entertainment for preteens, offering positivity without didacticism.
Izzy Newton is anxious about starting middle school, but with a little help from her good friends, she conquers her fears.
Izzy’s best friends, pretty Charlie Darwin and adventurous Allie Einstein, are loyal and supportive, but Izzy doesn’t know what to think when she learns that Marie Curie, a former member of the trio’s circle of friends, is back from a year in Paris during which they fell out of touch. Izzy hopes to win Marie’s friendship back, but Marie is cold to them on the first day of school. The school building is cold too—the air-conditioning system is malfunctioning, making the school like a refrigerator inside. Izzy convinces her friends to help solve the mystery behind this, partly hoping that if the STEM club she’s proposed doesn’t draw Marie to them, this will. They are all passionate about science, and they form several hypotheses and do observations, but it isn’t until they resolve things with Marie that their efforts are successful. This series opener highlights diverse, sympathetic characters using their smarts and their emotional intelligence to solve scientific and social challenges. Charlie has light-brown skin and speaks Spanish with her two moms, Allie presents white, Marie presents Asian, and new girl Gina Carver is black; Izzy is a winning black protagonist who steadily challenges herself and nurtures her friendships. Bowers’ half- and full-page grayscale illustrations add personality to the characters. Backmatter offers further information on the characters’ real-life inspirations and women scientists.
Wholesome entertainment for preteens, offering positivity without didacticism. (glossary) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4263-3869-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Under the Stars
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Delightfully disconcerting.
A tween befriends a mysterious changeling.
Casey Wilson hasn’t had many friends since the fabled sixth grade “Zoom Incident,” when a bully recorded his anxious tics and posted them online. But one day, after a mysterious phone call, a new friend arrives in a burlap bag. From the beginning, it’s clear this child (whose name is Morel) isn’t quite human; he has a claylike body and doesn’t eat or sleep. Casey’s gut sounds the alarm, but since his parents are unfazed, he rolls with the child’s appearance, too. The two kids start to connect over drawing, video games, and anime, but their similarities turn sinister as Morel slowly molds himself into Casey—voice and all. As Casey’s memories start to feel “far away,” his family begins to confuse him with Morel. Worse, they seem to prefer Morel over him. By the time Casey realizes what’s happening, it may be too late to get his life back. Horror veteran Tremblay draws on personal experience as an educator in his chilling middle-grade debut set in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The third-person perspective enhances the suspense; even readers who figure out what’s going on will find it terrifying to observe Casey’s growing realization of what’s happening to his family. Connelly’s occasional full-page black-and-white illustrations add ambience, and some will surely fuel readers’ nightmares. Casey and his family present white. Casey’s diagnoses include transient tic disorder, slow executive functioning, and anxiety.
Delightfully disconcerting. (author’s note) (Horror. 9-12)Pub Date: July 22, 2025
ISBN: 9780063396357
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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