A grand journey measured in both physical and emotional distance.
Mari is lost.
Her mother has died suddenly, but before she even breaks the news to her 9-year-old brother, Conor, who is on the autism spectrum, she knows they have to get out of there. Mari was in the foster care system before being adopted; her adoptive mother gave birth to Conor, and their dad later left the family. With this history and no one else to turn to, Mari refuses to get thrown back into the system, much less allow Conor to be separated from her. So, she takes her mother’s car and their camping gear, and they leave Los Angeles for their grandmother’s house in Massachusetts even though they haven’t spoken in three years and Mari doesn’t have a license (she’s 15). It’s 2017, and she persuades Conor, an astronomy buff, to comply by promising they will stop in Missouri to see the much-hyped upcoming solar eclipse. During their cross-country trip, they also visit state and national parks, eat a lot of chips, briefly pick up a hitchhiker, grieve, and meet with some genuine kindness. This road-trip story is introspective and revealing, much like the desert highway in the middle of the night. Mari’s perspective is transparent and fragile, completely realistic to her circumstances. Her attitude toward Conor, while fundamentally loving, is not perfect, but it feels honest for a teen sibling in her position. Main characters read as White.
A grand journey measured in both physical and emotional distance. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68263-247-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
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
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