Thought-provoking, if inconsistent.
A science-fiction short story collection that showcases the possibilities of the near and distant future.
This collection of 10 stories includes entries by a number of popular authors for young people. Most are written in traditional prose, such as A.R. Capetta’s second-person narrative, “The Most Epic Nap in the Universe,” but others branch out: Maddi Gonzalez’s “Zabrina Meets the Retro Club” is a black-and-white comic, and Eliot Schrefer’s “A Proposal to the Animal Congress” consists of a dialogue between two forms of artificial intelligence. Standouts include Kekla Magoon’s plot-driven, high-stakes heist story, “The Whistleblowers,” in which two kids battle big pharma to acquire medical research that calls into question the safety of EternaLife, a miracle drug intended to reverse the effects of aging. David Robertson’s “Of What We Never Were” also shines: In it, middle schooler Stacy is a test subject for whole brain emulation, a process in which the neural contents of a deceased person—in this case, Stacy’s best friend, Adam—are uploaded to an interactive AI device. Robertson sensitively raises questions surrounding grief, loss, and what it means to be human. Although several of the stories falter in the face of the challenge of explaining complex scientific theories in an engaging and accessible way to a younger audience, the themes of humanity, morality, and the quest for knowledge will appeal beyond aficionados of the genre. Naturally inclusive diversity is interwoven throughout, for example through the presence of nongendered characters.
Thought-provoking, if inconsistent. (contributor bios) (Science-fiction anthology. 10-14)Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781536236392
Page Count: 288
Publisher: MIT Kids Press/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable.
Six New Jersey 12-year-olds separated by decades race to ensure the “good guys” win World War II in this middle-grade work by the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and her brother, a children's author and journalist.
It all starts with a ham radio that Alice, Lawrence, and Artie fool around with in 1944 and Henry, Frances, and Lukas find in 2023. It’s late April, and the 1944 kids worry about loved ones in combat, while the 2023 kids study the war in school. When, impossibly, the radio allows the kids to communicate across time, it doesn’t take long before they share information that changes history. Can the two sets of kids work across a 79-year divide to prevent the U.S.A. from becoming the Nazi-controlled dystopia of Westfallen? This propulsive thriller includes well-paced cuts between times that keep the pages turning. Like most people in their small New Jersey town, Alice, Artie, and Frances are white. In 1944, Lawrence, who’s Black, endures bigotry; in the U.S.A. of 2023, Henry’s biracial (white and Black) identity and Lukas’ Jewish one are unremarkable, but in Westfallen, Henry’s a “mischling” doing “work-learning,” and Lukas is a menial laborer. Alice’s and Henry’s dual first-person narration zooms in on the adventure, but readers who pull back may find themselves deeply uneasy with the summary consideration paid to the real-life fates of European Jews and disabled people. The cliffhanger ending will have them hoping for more thoughtful treatment in sequels to come.
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable. (Science fiction/thriller. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781665950817
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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