Sharon Verbeten

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A little robot’s adventure

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown has parlayed his offbeat humor and dark, angular illustrations into his first chapter book. 

From the moment shiny robot Roz emerges from a crate that has washed up on the shore of a remote island, both Roz and the island’s animal inhabitants will never be the same. It’s a mysterious beginning for Roz, who wonders where she is and why she’s there. Soon, she’s worried about fitting in and surviving among the island’s animals, who fear this ominous metal creature and don’t try to hide their hostility. 

Brown’s short, well-paced chapters vary in perspective—some in Roz’s voice, some in third-person omniscient, some addressing the reader directly. The prose and dialogue offer an eager invitation for readers to discover Roz’s experiences on the island: clunking away from angry bears, saving an orphaned gosling or building a warm communal nest for the animals. Roz eventually wins over the island creatures, securing her place in the community—until a clever denouement threatens their unusual utopia. 

Without being preachy, Brown hits on many timely topics—friendship, the environment, technology, cooperation and differences—in this absorbing but very readable book. This hi-lo (high interest/low reading level) novel is especially ideal for reluctant readers.

 

This article was originally published in the April 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown has parlayed his offbeat humor and dark, angular illustrations into his first chapter book.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A lost sister, a mysterious fox

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Sisters Jules and Sylvie are inseparable, until one day Sylvie disappears—a revelation that forever changes Jules.

The preteens live with their widowed father near the Slip, a river in a wooded area. Steadfast Jules loves collecting rocks and adores her one-year-older sister. The two love building snow families, including lucky snow foxes, together. Sylvie is more adventuresome, and when her free spirit decides to venture toward the Slip, Jules never sees her again and her world is shattered.

Concurrently, amid Jules’ grief and attempt to return to a life “After Sylvie,” a fox cub is born in the forest—and the term “spirit animal” soon takes on a new meaning. The cub, Senna, realizes something is very different about herself and the world around her. Something seems off, unsettled, mysterious. 

Senna learns she is a rare “Kennen”: “Some believe that the Kennen are meant to finish something that isn’t finished, to settle something that needs to be settled. Others say that a Kennen’s true purpose is to help in some way, big or small.” Elements from Jules’ and Sylvie’s lives, as well as interweaving storylines from their friends, soon intersect with that of Senna.

This book is reminiscent of the supernatural elements in Kathi Appelt’s excellent and Newbery Honor-winning The Underneath. There’s much more than meets the eye, as Jules and Senna both learn in a satisfying denouement that marries spirit animal with spirited young girl.

Sisters Jules and Sylvie are inseparable, until one day Sylvie disappears—a revelation that forever changes Jules.

YA FictionYA

Discovering a new identity

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Short novels, especially books in verse, often belie their important and insightful contents. So is the case with award-winning poet / author Marilyn Nelson’s American Ace, which peels back the layers of a family, its history and its identity.

The story is told in short verse through the eyes of Connor Bianchini, grandson to Nona Lucia. When Nona Lucia dies, she leaves her son a letter that will potentially change his strong, proud Italian family’s (as well as outsiders’) view of what they believed to be true. The letter reveals that the man who raised Connor's father was not his birth father. Connor investigates the clues left behind, in the letter and in the birth father’s class ring, that reveal that the unknown birth father was not only black but likely a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

The discovery is a shock. As Connor’s father posits, “Odd, that black blood should be invisible?” Connor’s research leads him to many facts about the Airmen and, in turn, to realizations about personal identity and belonging. In one of the more telling phrases in the book, Connor notes about the Airmen: “The way they were treated makes me ashamed. But the way they treated others makes me proud.”

American Ace is a quick and absorbing read, great for introducing readers to both novels in verse and an important historic topic. As Connor notes, “I feel like there’s a blackness beyond skin, beyond race, beyond outward appearance. A blackness that has more to do with how you see than how you’re seen.”

This is a bright spot in historical fiction.

Short novels, especially books in verse, often belie their important and insightful contents. So is the case with award-winning poet / author Marilyn Nelson’s American Ace, which peels back the layers of a family, its history and its identity.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Surviving a hurricane

Review by Sharon Verbeten

In this fast-paced thriller set in the swamps of the Gulf Coast, 13-year-old Cort is pitted against venomous snakes, a vicious wild boar and a Category 3 hurricane—all at the same time. After he and his father prep for the oncoming storm, Cort and his two young neighbors, Liza and Francie, are inadvertently left at home alone when the worst hits.

As the ruthless storm rages, Francie disappears with Cort's dog, Catfish, so Cort and Liza venture out into the worst to save them. But along the way, the trio is literally swept away, their survival skills put to the test amid wind, cold, blackout darkness, rising waters, hunger and, perhaps the most imposing threat, wild animals also seeking higher ground.

While angered that his father was tending to Cort’s estranged mother while the kids were home alone, Cort must keep his focus on getting them all to the Bottle Creek Indian Mound, where, disastrously, they are met with angry, hungry, scared and violent animals.

There are dark moments indeed, and the reader’s pulse quickens with every page turn. Watt Key has the pacing and personalities down for this thrilling tale of family, friends and triumph over adversity in the face of literal and metaphoric storms. It’s an epic journey for both the characters and the readers.

In this fast-paced thriller set in the swamps of the Gulf Coast, 13-year-old Cort is pitted against venomous snakes, a vicious wild boar and a Category-3 hurricane—all at the same time. After he and his father prep for the oncoming storm, Cort and his two young neighbors, Liza and Francie, are inadvertently left at home alone when the worst hits.

YA FictionYA

Schizophrenia and Hobbes

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Determining what's real and what's imagined is just part of 17-year-old Calvin’s everyday life. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Calvin believes his world is intrinsically linked with that of Bill Watterson’s iconic comic strip Calvin and Hobbes—he was, after all, born on the last day the strip was published. As he communicates daily with tiger Hobbes—knowing he must be a delusion—Calvin feels the only way he’ll ever be normal is to travel to meet Watterson and have him draw just one more comic.

So Calvin, Hobbes and Calvin’s best friend, Susie (he wonders at times if, she, too, is a delusion), set out on an ill-advised and perilous quest across frozen Lake Erie, all the way from Canada to Ohio, to meet Watterson. Along the way, the trio tries to sort out life, love and reality, while braving the elements, challenging their own demons and meeting some characters along the way.

National Book Award finalist Martine Leavitt has created a cleverly framed story about living with mental illness from a first-person point of view. The book is written in dialogue among Calvin, Susie and Hobbes and as a letter to Watterson. Everyone may question his identity and his reality from time to time; Leavitt poignantly and wrenchingly shows what it’s like to struggle with that all the time. Although intended for an older audience, it bears similarities to the insightful look at disability from the eyes of the beholder in Sharon Draper’s award-winning Out of My Mind.

Determining what's real and what's imagined is just part of 17-year-old Calvin’s everyday life. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Calvin believes his world is intrinsically linked with that of Bill Watterson’s iconic comic strip Calvin and Hobbes—he was, after all, born on the last day the strip was published. As he communicates daily with tiger Hobbes—knowing he must be a delusion—Calvin feels the only way he’ll ever be normal is to travel to meet Watterson and have him draw just one more comic.

YA FictionYA

Overcoming great loss

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Teen love, angst, secrets and lies make up a lot of realistic YA fiction. Fortunately, those topics can also add up to some of the best storylines, as in Courtney C. Stevens’ second novel.

It’s hard enough to be a teen facing typical teen issues. But when Sadie is severely physically scarred and her best friend, Trent, is killed in a car accident, Sadie’s world is put on pause. She doesn’t want to return to school. She doesn’t want to face—literally—her friends. And she can’t get past the way her friends Gina and Gray were involved in the crash.

Sadie turns to Trent’s brother, Max, who provides a compassionate ear—and soon, a bit more, as their relationship blossoms. But as that happens, mysterious notes about Sadie’s past start appearing in her mailbox, and she finds it difficult to trust anyone. As as her thoughts turn more to the past, to times she shared with Trent and the gang, she wonders if any of them will ever fully recover, physically or mentally.

Secrets and lies—as indicated in the title—plague the many complex relationships in this novel, which addresses some heavy topics. But Stevens keeps the atmosphere appropriately light, as readers peer into Sadie and Max’s budding relationship and as the quartet of friends reunites for paintball and a road trip to the “Fountain of Youth.”

Carefully unveiled secrets come out at the end, leading to a conclusion that is believable and satisfying. This is a nice, relatable bit of realistic YA fiction.

Teen love, angst, secrets and lies make up a lot of realistic YA fiction. Fortunately, those topics can also add up to some of the best storylines, as in Courtney C. Stevens’ second novel.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

All to save a little brother

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Steve’s family has just welcomed a new baby, so all should be well. But it isn’t. The baby—who disconcertingly remains unnamed for many pages—is very ill, with an undisclosed congenital disorder, so his parents are constantly worried, stressed and distracted. It isn’t until young Steve begins to have inexplicable and surreal dreams that his life begins to change . . . not necessarily for the better.

The “angels” in his dreams tell Steve they can help the baby; all he needs to do is say yes to them. It sounds simple enough, but as his dreams take a sinister and unexplainable turn, Steve starts to question what is real and what is imagined.

The angels morph into wasps, which hatch a creepy plan to replace baby Theo with a new, healthy baby. But there are costs, and Steve soon decides he must try to thwart them. The story comes to a dizzyingly scary climax in a page-turner older children and even adults won’t be able to put down.

To say this book has “buzz” is both a pun and an understatement. The combination of a Printz Award-winning author and Caldecott Award-winning artist is synchronicity at its best. Jon Klassen is a master of dark illustrations, so his spare, creepy illustrations set the tone for Kenneth Oppel’s intensely creative text.

Comparisons to Neil Gaiman abound, placing Oppel securely in the realm of the master of Gothic and atmospheric tales. This is one scary—yet in its own way, touching—book. Readers will want to see more from this author, but they’ll never look at a wasp in the same way again.

Steve’s family has just welcomed a new baby, so all should be well. But it isn’t. The baby—who disconcertingly remains unnamed for many pages—is very ill, with an undisclosed congenital disorder, so his parents are constantly worried, stressed and distracted. It isn’t until young Steve begins to have inexplicable and surreal dreams that his life begins to change . . . not necessarily for the better.

Children's & YAPicture Book

The touching influence of imaginary friends

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Crickets and fireflies are mere insects, right? Maybe, but don’t tell that to Peter, a young boy who befriends one special Cricket and Firefly. And absolutely don’t call them his “imaginary friends” like his parents do. They prefer to be called “actual.” 

One summer, as Peter (the “miniature giant,” as the insects call him) silently grieves the loss of a schoolmate, he keeps a close watch on Cricket and Firefly—two independent souls who long to see the world outside Firefly Hollow. Each wants to do amazing things: Cricket wants to learn to catch like Yogi Berra, and Firefly wants to fly to the moon. Together, the trio share their dreams, their hopes and their summer—all to the dismay of Peter’s parents (the “giants”) and Cricket and Firefly’s respective nations. 

Throw in the character of the wise old Vole, guardian of the river, and you’ve got an utterly charming and believable story of imaginary friends who really can do remarkable things with each other’s encouragement. 

Through sheer perseverence, this quartet of friends attain actual joy and reach important milestones. Author Alison McGhee has created a tiny world of wonder with a gentle, never heavy-handed, message. Both full-color and black-and-white illustrations from Christopher Denise add even more charm to the reading experience.

Fans of middle grade animal stories like The Incredible Journey and The Underneath will enjoy Firefly Hollow, as will anyone who has ever had, and loved, an imaginary friend.

 

This article was originally published in the September 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Crickets and fireflies are mere insects, right? Maybe, but don’t tell that to Peter, a young boy who befriends one special Cricket and Firefly. And absolutely don’t call them his “imaginary friends” like his parents do. They prefer to be called “actual.”
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

One girl’s efforts to thwart San Francisco’s plague

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Good historical fiction is hard to find, but it’s probably even harder to write. Newbery Honor winner Gennifer Choldenko’s ability to research obscure yet intriguing topics is uncanny, and as she did with the popular Al Capone trilogy, she turns a tough topic into a high-interest read with Chasing Secrets.

Thirteen-year-old Lizzie Kennedy is stuck in a snooty girls’ school in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, but she feels free and competent when she accompanies her physician father on house calls, affording her the opportunity to show her knowledge and independence. But soon everything she knows—or thinks she knows—is challenged: The bubonic plague has led to part of the city being quarantined; many are threatening to burn Chinatown to the ground; and her family’s beloved Chinese cook is missing. Even worse, no one believes her fears. Her father and her powerful uncle, a newspaperman, deny the outbreak, and her older brother, Billy, is too distracted to help. Lizzie befriends the cook’s son, Noah, and together they hatch surreptitious, daring plans to connect the dots of the medical mystery plaguing their city and their families. 

Lizzie unabashedly takes on the problems of the world, reminiscent of Sophia in Avi’s Sophia’s War. Choldenko’s research is exhaustive, weaving little-known details into the narrative, as well as into the author’s note, chronology and endnotes. Themes of friendship, race relations and deception—with diseased rats thrown in for good measure and accuracy—mesh together to create a compelling work of historical fiction.

 

This article was originally published in the August 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Good historical fiction is hard to find, but it’s probably even harder to write. Newbery Honor winner Gennifer Choldenko’s ability to research obscure yet intriguing topics is uncanny, and as she did with the popular Al Capone trilogy, she turns a tough topic into a high-interest read with Chasing Secrets.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Down on the farm, the animals hatch a plan

Review by Sharon Verbeten

When Burdock—a one-eyed cat named for the prickly burr seeds that inspired Velcro—discovers that Dewey Baxter is planning to burn down his barn, it becomes his mission to save the barn’s inhabitants. It isn’t long before the whole farm—workhorses Tug and Pull, Fluff the sheep, Figgy the pig, Mrs. Brown the cow, Nanny the goat and her kid, Tick—work with Burdock to concoct an escape plan.

The unsuspecting farmer takes a back seat in this story, relayed in short chapters. The gentle dialogue can be silly and a bit old fashioned, and the characters are stereotypical in both personality and name. Nevertheless, it’s a sweet tale reminiscent of the animal compassion and teamwork in Charlotte’s Web, and Rebecca Bond’s black-and-white sketches carry that theme effortlessly. 

If ever there were an E.B. White heir apparent, it would be Bond. This is a tame but endearing beginning chapter book sure to please all, especially animal lovers.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

When Burdock—a one-eyed cat named for the prickly burr seeds that inspired Velcro—discovers that Dewey Baxter is planning to burn down his barn, it becomes his mission to save the barn’s inhabitants. It isn’t long before the whole farm—workhorses Tug and Pull, Fluff the sheep, Figgy the pig, Mrs. Brown the cow, Nanny the goat and her kid, Tick—work with Burdock to concoct an escape plan.
YA FictionYA

Dark mysteries locked away

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Amber, Vee and Orianna aren’t necessarily the girls next door. Well, they might have been at one time, but now these teens find their lives inextricably linked through the common denominator of Aurora Hills Secure Juvenile Detention Center.

Amber’s doing time for killing her stepfather; Vee is an aspiring, yet tormented, ballet dancer; and Orianna is the curious link that binds them. As Amber notes, “Each of us had our own monster, distinct to us.” And indeed, the girls must deal with their own demons as well as those of the other inmates who share their dismal fate. Author Nova Ren Suma uses highly refined and eloquent prose to unveil—slowly—how these tragic lives intersect, as each girl's alternating story dips back and forth through time.

Unexplained phenomena, dark back stories, bloody flashbacks, creepy characters and a shocking denouement are enough to keep the sinister suspense going, much to the thrill of today’s YA readers. The female characters are well drawn, compelling and complex, and things aren’t always as they seem, but sharp readers will want to unravel their complicated connections.

Suma shares in the book’s publicity materials that “this book haunted me like one of the ghosts found in its pages.” The Walls Around Us will certainly haunt readers as well, but the journey will be well worth the scares. This is an intense, hypnotic and absorbing read. A movie can’t be far behind.

Amber, Vee and Orianna aren’t necessarily the girls next door. Well, they might have been at one time, but now these teens find their lives inextricably linked through the common denominator of Aurora Hills Secure Juvenile Detention Center.

YA FictionYA

A teen’s fight for identity

Review by Sharon Verbeten

Note to self: Don’t forget to log out of your personal email on a public computer. That’s the lesson 16-year-old Simon Spier learns the hard way after a high school classmate reads his emails to his secret, anonymous boyfriend, Blue. Simon hasn’t come out to his friends or family, and now he feels pressured to keep this fact, as well as the identity of Blue, a secret. 

Moments of teen life, drama and angst are well drawn by debut novelist Becky Albertalli, a clinical psychologist who previously worked with gender-nonconforming children. Her insights are spot on, from the dialogue to the raw emotions Simon and Blue experience. As the book alternates between daily life and the emails between Simon and Blue, readers are immediately and magnetically pulled into this story of coming out, being true to oneself and challenging the societal status quo, or the “homo sapiens agenda,” as Simon refers to it. 

Topical relevance aside, this book stands in the YA canon as an outstanding book about teens coming of age, where several of the characters just happen to be gay.

 

This article was originally published in the April 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Note to self: Don’t forget to log out of your personal email on a public computer. That’s the lesson 16-year-old Simon Spier learns the hard way after a high school classmate reads his emails to his secret, anonymous boyfriend, Blue. Simon hasn’t come out to his friends or family, and now he feels pressured to keep this fact, as well as the identity of Blue, a secret.
YA FictionYA

Keeping her head above waves of grief

Review by Sharon Verbeten

A smell of cologne wafts through the air. A frame inexplicably falls from the wall. All these unexplained events, including seeing her dead brother, are beginning to haunt Lex. Is she going crazy? Or is she just trying to reconnect with Tyler, her younger brother who recently took his own life?

The guarded Lex has been meeting with a therapist, who is trying to convince her to write down her thoughts. It doesn’t help that Lex’s mother believes her own life is over, or that Lex’s absentee father may be, in part anyway, responsible for Tyler’s suicide. Grief is tricky business, especially in the wake of an unexpected tragedy and especially for a teenager from an already dysfunctional family. But facing her grief is the only way Lex can go on—and to convince her mother to go on as well.

This well-plotted novel includes some masterful plot turns and mysterious happenings that impact Lex’s breakthroughs and road to recovery. Alternating between Lex’s cathartic journal entries, her all-too-real dreams of Tyler and her day-to-day dealings with her friends and boyfriend, this is an authentic look at the struggles a teen might face when life comes at her from all angles. But it also shows triumph when Lex is able to face her demons, connect the dots of her brother’s tragic last days and help her mom in the process.

It may be nothing like her previous teen novels in the Unearthly trilogy, but The Last Time We Say Goodbye shows Cynthia Hand's impressive skill at connecting with a teen audience.

A smell of cologne wafts through the air. A frame inexplicably falls from the wall. All these unexplained events, including seeing her dead brother, are beginning to haunt Lex. Is she going crazy? Or is she just trying to reconnect with Tyler, her younger brother who recently took his own life?

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