Young, would-be adventurers or armchair travelers will enjoy exploring with these two straightforward, engaging...
This adventure novel recounts two American teen brothers’ encounters with tour guides, wildlife and armed poachers in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
The brothers begin by introducing themselves, each in a short, engaging, humorous chapter that reveals their warm but occasionally antagonistic relationship as well as each brother’s qualities. Gannon, the more emotionally attuned of the two, and Wyatt, who is fascinated by science, are both home-schooled. Children of a flight attendant (Wheeler), the brothers have grown up believing that travel and “exploration” are the best ways to learn. Gannon and Wyatt describe their trip to Botswana in alternating journal entries that are simple and honest and reveal their enthusiasm, curiosity, broadening worldviews and occasional brotherly quibbles. The boys have a variety of adventures, some life-threatening. They meet the residents of a desert village and rethink their own water consumption, encounter an angry white rhino protecting her young, and Wyatt contracts a dangerously high fever while in the bush. The boys’ most harrowing adventure takes them into the wild with a pair of African tour guides to heal a mother lioness wounded by poachers. A confrontation between the group and a poacher armed with a machine gun provides a tense climax. Other moments are much lighter, such as Wyatt’s memorable fight with a crocodile that turns out to be a log and Gannon’s brotherly teasing. Professional-quality photographs of animals, landscape and the small plane the family used for travel illustrate the text. The high-quality accompanying DVD shows video footage of a village, wildlife and the flesh and blood Gannon and Wyatt talking about their travels. A few back pages are left blank for the reader’s own travel notes.
Young, would-be adventurers or armchair travelers will enjoy exploring with these two straightforward, engaging personalities—and will learn a lot in the process.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1936284-00-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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