Reviews for Turtle boy

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A glum boy wants to stay in his bedroom with his turtles. Twelve-year-old Will stole his turtles from nature, including one he knows perfectly well is endangered, but he needs them to help him feel calm while he’s hiding. Outside of his bedroom, schoolmates tease him for a mild facial disfigurement—calling him Turtle Boy not because of his pets but because of his chin, which is slowly receding—while Mom and Rabbi Harris pressure him to prepare for his bar mitzvah. A bar mitzvah community-service assignment forces him to befriend dying teen RJ, which gives Will flashbacks to when Dad died when Will was 4 and flash-forward fears to Will’s upcoming facial surgery (for medical reasons, not cosmetic). With a light touch and occasional humor (can a Jewish turtle eat ham? What if he’s Reform?), Wolkenstein successfully weaves together Will’s gloom and avoidance, grief (portrayed, appropriately, as distinct from depression), emotional progress, and Jewish practice. Will’s friendship with RJ and taking on of RJ’s bucket list—including a roller coaster, a middle school dance, a loud concert, and a pet (can an endangered turtle live in a hospital?)—as proxy grants Will a new centeredness and kick-ass drummer skills; it’s too bad that the life-lessons-from-dying-friend plot is such a cliché. Will and most characters seem white by default, with some diversity among secondary characters. A satisfying arc, from sadness to dawning hope and strength. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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