Lacking the high humor and deft characterizations that mark Koertge’s YA novels, this book for middle graders is overwhelmed by the weight of its lessons. When the Fontaines move from their comfortable suburb to Ibarra Street in “the heart of the city”—a blighted urban area—neither Joy, ten, nor her mother are very happy about it, in spite of her father’s optimism over the effect the move will have on his art. Joy meets Neesha, a streetwise kid who sets out to teach Joy the skills she’ll need (a lesson in slang, body language, and “rappin’ “). Joy also meets or learns of the neighborhood characters: the Parks, the Korean owners of the grocery store; Mr. Lossi, reputed to have had Mafia connections in the past; Mrs. Santiago, who deals in spells and magic; Dimitrios, homeless philosopher and font of wisdom; and a host of others. When a gang lets the neighborhood know that they’re taking over a vacant house to serve as the base for their drug-dealing operations, Joy and Neesha refuse to accept the inevitable, devising a scheme to save the house, and rallying the neighbors. When the plan succeeds, the girls are given full credit for saving the entire neighborhood. It’s all too pat to be believable, and the characters run close to caricature, and often outright stereotype. Hanging over the story are instances of preaching, rampant political correctness, and heavy-handed messages of tolerance. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-531-30078-1
Page Count: 137
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1998
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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