In order to fulfill his dead great-uncle’s wish, seventh-grader Tony begins attending the spooky, rambling, and possibly haunted Penda School.
Classmate Jessica reaches out to him, perhaps offering friendship, but he’s aware that she’s a strange, unpopular girl (and seems to look a lot like Morticia from her description). The more people warn him to avoid her, however, the more determined he becomes to remain her friend. He keeps seeing the ghosts of both his uncle and a boy who died over 100 years ago, the son of the school’s founder, even though he’s pretty sure he doesn’t believe in ghosts. Worse yet, the boy seems desperate to make real contact with him, but Jessica warns him that the ghost wants to capture his soul. Although Tony’s narration can sound more authorial than like the voice of a 12-year-old, this atmospheric tale has plenty of creepiness to propel it, sometimes at a breathtaking pace. As it becomes clear that Jessica cannot be trusted, Tony also realizes that she might be just one of multiple threats, making him—and readers—doubt everyone. Hair-raising chases through dark, menacing secret passageways with the not-quite-dead at Tony’s heels combine with an effective mingling of genuine school angst and the more spectral variety to create a scary, suspenseful, and chillingly immersive experience. The jacket illustration paints Tony as white.
Don’t read this one in a dark and haunted school. (Horror. 10-14)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-174085-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Did you like this book?
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
12
GET IT
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Did you like this book?
PROFILES
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
GET IT
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 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
© Copyright 2022 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
