Sixteen-year-old Jesse narrates in journal form the events leading up to the forced relocation of the Cherokee Nation from its ancestral (and treaty-granted) territory to Indian Country in 1838. Jesse is a thoughtful boy who has had to give up his mission schooling in order to take care of the family farm after the murder of his father at the hands of white thugs three years earlier. Earnestly he informs his journal of the internal politics of the Cherokee Republic, the cultural history of his people, the economics of ethnic cleansing, and the appalling conditions of the forced march of 17,000 men, women, and children across 800 to 1,200 miles of unforgiving terrain. As with all of the My Name Is America entries, the need to tell a story vies with the imperative to educate, all within a patently artificial format. The text here becomes acutely self-conscious: when asked for whom he is writing the journal, Jesse stumbles for a moment and then says, “Anyone”—which excuses a lot of the exposition that would not likely occur in an actual journal. The writing is mostly formal, but by and large a real and likable character emerges, and Bruchac (How the Chipmunk Got His Stripes, 2000, etc.) packs in an extraordinary amount of information about a painful (and shameful) chapter of American history that rarely rates more than a paragraph in history books. Lengthy notes at the end describe the author’s research methods and his approach to writing the book. The requisite appendices include a historical note, archival photographs, and a tear-stained pullout map of the Trail of Tears. (Fiction. 9-14)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0439121973
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
A beautifully executed victory lap for a beloved series.
An origin story for the man who provides wisdom and a sense of cohesion for the young runners who star in Reynolds’ celebrated series.
Years before Coach guided the members of the Defenders through hurdles on and off the field, he was a 12-year-old boy known as Otie. Otie’s a gifted runner, though impulsive (as his mother says, “Your body’s fast, but your mind don’t always move at the same speed”), and he’s thrilled to learn that the scout who helped his idol, Carl Lewis, make it to the 1984 Olympics four years ago will be arriving soon to assess the talent on his team. His loving parents encourage him—and do their best to keep him away from the influence of the Clippers, a gang that sells drugs in his predominantly Black neighborhood. When his father, who’s frequently away for work, returns with a gift of Jordans, Otie is even more excited, but the cherished sneakers serve as the catalyst for learning difficult truths about his father. Reynolds does a remarkable job of using pop culture references—from Michael Jackson to Back to the Future—to establish a sense of time and place. As always, his command of language is masterly, with crackling dialogue, propulsive plotting, and adroit characterization: Readers will emerge with a rich portrait of the forces that created the man whose mentorship would have a powerful effect on so many young people.
A beautifully executed victory lap for a beloved series. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798347102372
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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