A gloriously absurd but overlong adventure.
Kosmos’ YA debut sees a schoolgirl rebel against an educational system that oppresses large-handed students.
Fourteen-year-old eighth grader Blaze Union lives on Puddin’ Head Island, a nation that venerates soccer and discriminates against the half of the population—those who have been deemed to have hands that are too large (known as “Bigs”). As a Big, Blaze is barred from leadership positions at school, only allowed to play defense in soccer, and generally treated as a second-class citizen. She rightly finds this unfair, and her ceaseless protesting and rebelliousness have caused her to be expelled from 22 different schools. Blaze’s burning ambition is to become education minister and reform the school system. She gets a chance to change things after she and her friend Chopper launch a punitive raid against inhabitants of Sweetie Island—the Puddin’ Head Islanders’ traditional enemies who, among other things, recently attacked the school with a cookie dough bomb. She and Chopper are judged to have performed a Noble Deed, and Blaze is rewarded by being made an “associate” education minister. She revels in the opportunity to be in charge, but the changes she attempts end in disaster. Eventually, however, she realizes the truth about anti-Big prejudice and the Sweeties conflict. Kosmos employs a conversational style throughout the narrative and portrays Blaze as larger than life but still relatable; the teen is fierce, determined, and angry at the injustice around her, yet also rather self-centered. Chopper does his best to temper her impetuosity, as Blaze’s intentions are good, but her methods more questionable—a point that’s made repeatedly. For the most part, though, a sense of silliness carries the day, and Blaze’s escapades are often delightfully funny. Still, the novel’s nearly 400-page length may prove daunting to some YA readers, especially as the pacing is uniform throughout. Anyone who enjoys wild shenanigans for their own sake, however, will appreciate the extra pages.
A gloriously absurd but overlong adventure.Pub Date: June 7, 2023
ISBN: 979-8988315100
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Wise Wit Press, LLC
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told.
A devastating tale of greed and secrets springs from the summer that tore Cady’s life apart.
Cady Sinclair’s family uses its inherited wealth to ensure that each successive generation is blond, beautiful and powerful. Reunited each summer by the family patriarch on his private island, his three adult daughters and various grandchildren lead charmed, fairy-tale lives (an idea reinforced by the periodic inclusions of Cady’s reworkings of fairy tales to tell the Sinclair family story). But this is no sanitized, modern Disney fairy tale; this is Cinderella with her stepsisters’ slashed heels in bloody glass slippers. Cady’s fairy-tale retellings are dark, as is the personal tragedy that has led to her examination of the skeletons in the Sinclair castle’s closets; its rent turns out to be extracted in personal sacrifices. Brilliantly, Lockhart resists simply crucifying the Sinclairs, which might make the family’s foreshadowed tragedy predictable or even satisfying. Instead, she humanizes them (and their painful contradictions) by including nostalgic images that showcase the love shared among Cady, her two cousins closest in age, and Gat, the Heathcliff-esque figure she has always loved. Though increasingly disenchanted with the Sinclair legacy of self-absorption, the four believe family redemption is possible—if they have the courage to act. Their sincere hopes and foolish naïveté make the teens’ desperate, grand gesture all that much more tragic.
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-74126-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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