The YA novel Kiki Strike: Inside The Shadow City, is unlike any book I’ve ever read. The main character, twelve year-old Ananka Fishbein, lives a relatively boring life until she finds an enormous subterranean city underneath New York, and meets Kiki Strike, a young girl who notices everything about everyone and seems to be able to appear and disappear at will. Together, they assemble a crew called the Irregulars, composed of delinquent Girl Scouts with unusual talents, to explore the labyrinthine city. The book is filled with hilarious quips, heartfelt gestures of solidarity, and an empowering message for girls and geeks everywhere. This novel manages to entertain and educate at the exact same time. While reading about the Irregulars and the Shadow City, you get glimpses into the history of New York, and at the end of every chapter there is information on everything from historical underground cities to caring for an injured colleague, although the beginning of the book includes a disclaimer concerning the medical advice. Through reading the Kiki Strike trilogy, I learned so much about New York City and countless other tidbits of information like how to tell when someone’s lying, how to make the right impression, and how to “be a master of disguise.” In addition to being a great read, Kiki Strike: Inside The Shadow City provides role models for girls, role models who give girls the confidence to be independent and ambitious. It emphasizes the fact that being nerdy doesn’t make you boring or somehow inferior to anyone else; in fact, it’s an invaluable asset. In the book, the Irregulars are all tween girls around the age of twelve, with incredible skills in fields historically thought of as fields that were for men only, such as chemistry and engineering. The girls regularly prove themselves to be just as capable as anyone else, despite their age and gender. In the beginning of the book, when Kiki Strike first assembles the Irregulars, she tries to convince them that they can explore the Shadow City by themselves, and tells them this: “Each of you has an unusual gift…that has gone unnoticed by your parents, your teachers, and even the Girl Scouts… you could choose to do something truly spectacular.” When Ananka hears this, she internalizes the messages and goes from the unsure wallflower she was from the first few chapters to an assertive, highly capable girl at the end. If you’re a fan of history, mystery, nerd-power, or girl-power, you need to read Kiki Strike: Inside The Shadow City, and you won’t be able to put it down. Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller. Bloomsbury, 2008. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
book review
Roller Girl, Reviewed by Akhil, 11
A year ago I signed up for something called Oregon Battle of the Books. I was discussing with my team which book I should read, and they suggested Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. At first I did not want to read it because I saw how thick the book was, and I thought it was a chapter book, so I did not want to read it, but I took the book home anyways, and I looked at the cover. It looked like it was some tips for girls who roller skate. I wanted to see what the pages looked like, and I was surprised. It was a comic book. I immediately sat on the couch and read the book. The book is about a girl named Astrid. She and her best friend, Nicole, do everything together, but when Astrid signs up for roller skating she thinks Nicole will sign up for it too, but instead Nicole signs up for dance classes. And from there on, there is so much change and struggle for Astrid, because she keeps falling while trying to do roller skating, she got made fun of a lot at camp, and her coach keeps saying negative things about her. Astrid’s dream is that she wants to be like Rainbow Bite, the best roller skater in the roller derby, but Astrid is still the worst on her team. Later on she keeps moving up the ranks from 12 to 9 to 4 because she keeps on practicing and practicing, and competes in the roller derby because she got so much practice. The theme of the book is friendship. Friendship is important, and if you don’t have friendship then you won’t have any fun in your life. I once had a friend that was really shy and barely ever talked to anyone except for the teachers. I saw that he would just sit in the corner every day during recess, so I asked him to come over to us and play, and now he is really popular in school, and he is happy because he had friends with him. I think that the author would want us to see in friendship that you will keep making friends on the way if you keep on trying hard. Another theme that I would say that fits this book is hard working because she had to keep trying to achieve her goal. An example is that she kept going to derby camp and kept failing and was the lowest in her camp, so she practiced hard by roller skating every day, and finally she got the hang of it because she did a lot of hard work. My favorite part in the story is where Astrid goes to derby camp. It is my favorite part in the book because that is where all of the trouble starts. For example she starts falling down a lot on her first try, and she was being made fun of because of that she keeps on struggling, but later on gets better. Read this book called Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. Dial Books, 2015. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
The Doughnut King, Reviewed by Olivia, 10
Warning: Once you open The Doughnut King, you’ll be stuck in the story for eternity. Start reading it, and you’ll never stop. Well, that is, until author Jessie Janowitz decides to free you by officially changing the story. The Doughnut King is filled with the perfect amount of action and sweetness, enough to create a robust portal that transports you into the story. Meet Tristan Levin, known as Tris. Tris has been cooking and baking before he learned how to say “food.” Tris moves to a small town in New York called Petersville. Petersville is slowly disappearing, but not the way you think it is. Every year, only a couple of families move to Petersville. A couple, as in two or three. More people move away than people who move to Petersville, and the mayor of Petersville, Jim, thinks this needs to be stopped. There are only one stoplight and a couple of shops. Tris has a doughnut shop he runs in Petersville with his friend Josh, called The Doughnut Stop. The Doughnut Shop’s doughnuts are impressive, according to everyone. Jim thinks food will keep Petersville from disappearing and makes that a goal. Tris needs to make more doughnuts, but he and Josh are already trying their best. Many people come to get doughnuts but have to wait four hours, only to see the words: SOLD OUT. If only there would be a way to make more donuts, he could maybe save Petersville. Even more excitement awaits in the book. Tris finds a solution to the doughnut problem: A Doughnut Robot. This robot makes ninety dozens donuts an hour, which is perfect for their business. Actually, even better than perfect. There’s a big problem, though, which is that the Doughnut Robot costs $50,000. Now Tris’s whole family knows about the Doughnut Robot and its cost. Before he knows it, his nine-year-old sister Jeanine has secretly sent an audition video to a famous cooking contest, “Can You Cut It?” and they accept the video. Tris is mad, but the rest of the family thinks it is a fantastic idea, and mostly because if he wins, he gets $100,000, enough to buy a Doughnut Robot. Tris is still unsure if he has enough courage and talent to win the prize, though. The book is fantastic, with many surprising and unexpected features. But some elements in the book confuse me, especially in the first few chapters. In chapter three, Tris sees a comment that tells how bad the Doughnut Stop is, and he tries to delete it but can’t, and then Josh walks in. Tris asks him how to delete them, and Josh tells him he forgot and didn’t finish, and then it says: “But Josh didn’t need to finish. The truth was floating right over his head in caps.” What truth? It doesn’t clarify what truth it talks about in the book. Then Tris says Josh lied. Lied about what? Why did he lie? The dialogue is very unclear in those pages, which often confuses people. Nevertheless, The Doughnut King’s story is embedded in unexpected but fascinating characters, settings, and plots. Predict what will happen, and you will probably be surprised; unpredictable always, always, happens in The Doughnut King. The Doughnut King is highly recommended to any reader, especially those who love baking and cooking. Anyone can enjoy such an incredible book. The Doughnut King by Jessie Janowitz. Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2020. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
