Book Review: Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt (1975)

The original cover of Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, 1975.

Natalie Babbitt’s 1975 young adult novel Tuck Everlasting is a fascinating look at life and death. It’s a book that I didn’t read growing up, but I must have heard the title, as it’s always stuck with me, for some reason. The fiftieth anniversary of the novel is coming up next year, and a new graphic novel adaptation is due out. When I found Tuck Everlasting in a Little Free Library recently, I took it as a sign that it was time to read it.  

Tuck Everlasting is the story of ten-year-old Winnie Foster, who lives in a small town called Treegap. Winnie’s parents and grandmother try their best to shelter her from the dangers of the outside world, and she spends most of her summer days within her fenced yard, longing to experience more of what’s on the other side.  

One day, Winnie wanders into the forest near her house. There she sees a handsome young man who is relaxing in the shade of a tree. He drinks from a small spring. Winnie starts talking to him and finds it curious that he does not want her to drink any water from the spring. When the young man’s mother and brother show up, they tell Winnie that they will have to take her with them.  

This strange family that has kidnapped Winnie are the Tucks, and it turns out that they drank water from this spring in the forest many years ago. Since that time, they have stopped aging and are immortal. They have tried to conceal the spring from anyone else, for fear that others would find it and exploit it.  

I won’t summarize the plot any further, for fear of spoiling this charming story. Tuck Everlasting brings up many philosophical questions: what would it mean to stop aging? What would it be like to be immortal? How would being immortal change the decisions that you made, and the way you lived?  

As a society and a culture, America tends to fear aging and death. Rather than face these parts of the life cycle head on, our culture just avoids them. I think one of the messages of Tuck Everlasting is to remind us to enjoy those special moments in life, as they are finite.  

Book Review: The Roof Over Our Heads, by Nicole Kronzer (2023)

The cover of The Roof Over Our Heads, by Nicole Kronzer, 2023. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Author Nicole Kronzer

A fun bit of Roof swag: a notebook from the (fictional) Jorgensen House. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Nicole Kronzer’s young adult novel The Roof Over Our Heads is a wonderful love letter to theater, families, and belonging. The main character of the novel is Finn Turner, a 17-year-old who lives with his two mothers and two brothers in a Victorian mansion owned by a theater company. But the theater has a new artistic director who isn’t convinced that the expense of the mansion is worth it to the theater’s bottom line. Finn’s mothers get the idea to perform an interactive play in the house—while the cast lives in the mansion as though it’s 1891.  

The plot is a clever spin on the old “Hey, let’s do the show right here!” trope, and Kronzer’s sense of humor is evident in the terrific title of the play: A Midsummer Night’s Art Heist Garden Party Escape Room Murder. Finn has to navigate through many complications, including figuring out how he will successfully memorize his lines, and how his footman character will be able to chat with his crush Alexa, playing one of the daughters of the household. The other daughter of the household is played by Jade, who used to be best friends with Finn in middle school, but now their friendship has hit a rockier patch. Throw in a drama teacher who is relentless about staying in character, and a dude-ish organ performance major, among others, and you have a recipe for delightful comedy.  

The condensed time structure of The Roof Over Our Heads heightens the tension, and the narrative drive will keep you turning pages. The Roof Over Our Heads is funny, heartwarming, and charming. Anyone who has experienced the magic inherent in theater will enjoy immersing themselves in the backstage dramas contained herein. Nicole Kronzer’s first novel, 2020’s delightful Unscripted, also had a theater theme, and even though my own acting career was limited to high school, I loved being back in that universe in The Roof Over Our Heads.

 

I knew that I was going to like The Roof Over Our Heads long before I actually read it. The first time I met Nicole Kronzer was in the fall of 2021—our mutual friend, the talented illustrator Katharine Woodman-Maynard, was taking one of my F. Scott Fitzgerald walking tours, and she had invited Nicole as well. I think about the third sentence Nicole said to me was “My next novel is set in the James J. Hill house!” I replied, “I used to be a tour guide there!” Although the house in The Roof Over Our Heads is called the Jorgensen House, it shares many characteristics with the James J. Hill House, and it was with gleeful pleasure that I read Kronzer’s beautiful descriptions of a place that I know so well. The next time I go to the Hill House I’ll be imagining Finn and the other characters running from one wing to another, running lines as they go, preparing for the next performance of A Midsummer Night’s Art Heist Garden Party Escape Room Murder. 

Book Review: Murder for the Modern Girl, by Kendall Kulper (2022)

 

The cover of Murder for the Modern Girl, by Kendall Kulper, 2022.

Author Kendall Kulper

Kendall Kulper’s YA novel Murder for the Modern Girl is set in 1928 Chicago. The two main characters, Ruby Newhouse and Guy Rosewood, both have powers they are trying to keep hidden. Ruby may look and act like a typical flapper, interested in speedy boys, hot jazz, and dancing the Charleston, but look out Jack, because she can take one gander at you and peep right into your dreambox! She can read minds! And you wouldn’t give bland Guy a second look, even if you saw him working as a janitor in the county morgue. But if you did happen to give him another glance, Guy might not look the same, as he can change faces and shapes!  

Murder for the Modern Girl takes these fantastic elements and embeds them firmly in a real-world setting that is vibrantly described by Kulper. Ruby’s father is the Cook County state’s attorney, so she has a powerful sense of justice imbedded in her. Ruby has been using her gift of reading minds to discover truly awful people who are plotting nefarious crimes. Ruby then poisons them before they can commit these crimes. This reminded me a little of the futuristic world of the movie Minority Report, based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, where people can be arrested for “pre-crimes” before the crimes are actually committed. Most of the crimes Ruby prevents are acts of violence against women. The murders that Ruby commits are usually classified as simply alcohol poisonings and are quickly forgotten. But when Guy figures out that Ruby’s most recent victim was poisoned, an overzealous coroner tells Guy to start digging through other mysterious deaths in the city.  

The novel is told in chapters that alternate from Ruby’s point of view and Guy’s. It’s an effective technique, and Kulper successfully captures their different voices. I found Murder for the Modern Girl to be a fun and suspenseful read, and the themes that Kulper focuses on are thought-provoking. If you’re looking for an excellent YA historical novel, you should check out Murder for the Modern Girl.  

Book Review: Unscripted, by Nicole Kronzer (2020)

 

Hardcover edition of Unscripted, by Nicole Kronzer, 2020. I bought my signed copy at the Red Balloon bookstore in Saint Paul, and I got my bookmark when I gave Nicole and Katharine Woodman-Maynard an F. Scott Fitzgerald walking tour. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Author Nicole Kronzer

Unscripted is the debut young adult novel of author Nicole Kronzer. Released in April of 2020, Unscripted is the story of Zelda, a high-school student who loves improvisational comedy. As the novel opens, Zelda and her brother Will are on their way to improv camp at the Rocky Mountain Theater Arts Summer Camp. Zelda’s enthusiasm is quickly dampened when she finds that she’s one of just a handful of girls at the entire camp. The girls don’t even have a counselor for their cabin.

Zelda earns a highly coveted spot on the varsity improv team, coached by the hunky Ben, who is just a few years older than Zelda. Ben is flirtatious towards Zelda when they’re off stage, but during varsity rehearsals he offers her no support and doesn’t protect her from the toxic masculinity of the rest of the all-male team. Really, the first clue that Ben is an idiot is the fact that he has no idea who F. Scott Fitzgerald is. He asks about her name, “Like the video game?” Zelda responds, “And the Fitzgerald.” Ben has no idea what she means, but he finally recalls that Leonardo DiCaprio was in the movie of The Great Gatsby. Zelda tells him, “It’s also a good book.” (p.33)

Unscripted deals unflinchingly with the atmosphere of toxic masculinity at the theater camp, and the novel shows how soul-crushing it is for Zelda to deal with. Unscripted is an excellent novel, and Kronzer paints an effective portrait of how Zelda chooses to navigate the difficult minefield of the camp. Unscripted is also very funny, and the jokes and skits the characters come up with feel authentic. One of the parts I found the funniest was Zelda writing a list of “Funny Dead Bodies,” concluding with “Hitler? That’s punching up. Or other things Nazi-adjacent? …But what are decades-old Nazi bodies doing undecomposed in the woods?” (p.104)

If you’re looking for a fresh new YA novel that tackles a serious topic, but will still make you laugh, check out Unscripted.

Book Review: Burn Baby Burn, by Meg Medina (2016)

The banner for Saint Paul's Read Brave program, author Meg Medina, and the cover of the Read Brave paperback edition of Burn Baby Burn (2016).

Meg Medina’s 2016 young adult novel Burn Baby Burn focuses on Nora Lopez. Nora is seventeen years old as the novel opens, and she’s ready to leave high school behind. Nora isn’t quite sure what she wants to do with her life, but she knows one thing: she wants to move out of the small apartment she shares with her mother, Mima, and her younger brother Hector. 

Burn Baby Burn is set in Queens in 1977, one of the worst years in New York City’s history. The city was on the verge of bankruptcy, a 25-hour blackout on one of the hottest days of the year sparked rampant looting and arson, residents were terrorized by the serial killer eventually known as Son of Sam, and the Mets traded their ace pitcher Tom Seaver to the Reds. All of these events form the backdrop for Nora Lopez’s story, and they all play a role in the novel. (Yes, even Tom Seaver’s trade is mentioned.) 

Author Meg Medina does a superb job of bringing Nora’s voice to life, and Nora is an engaging and witty guide to the trials and tribulations that she faces as the narrative unfolds. Medina grew up in New York City, and she grounds the novel in a sense of place that paints a vivid picture of a big city in crisis.

I read Burn Baby Burn as part of the city of Saint Paul’s Read Brave program, a citywide reading effort that in 2019 focused on the issue of housing. Nora’s family is living paycheck to paycheck, and to pay the rent they are dependent on the monthly child support checks that come from Nora’s father, who has remarried and lives in Manhattan. When those checks don’t come on time, it’s Nora’s job to call her father and be the go-between, since her parents aren’t on speaking terms. 

There’s a lot of rich texture in Burn Baby Burn—Nora’s job at Sal’s Deli, her flirtation with Pablo, her handsome new co-worker at the Deli, Nora’s relationship with her best friend Kathleen, and Nora’s deteriorating relationship with her brother Hector, who has started using drugs. Burn Baby Burn is an excellent novel that deals with substantive issues. I liked hearing Nora’s voice as she detailed her complicated life, and I’d be eagerly on board if Medina ever wants to write a sequel and continue Nora’s tale.