September 1, 2021
Gr 6 Up-Fifteen-year-old Lisa Rives seems to want for nothing. Her lovely house, beauty queen-turned-realtor mom, and engineer dad paint a picture-perfect life in Beachside, AL. But the truth is that her parents are always arguing about a mysterious person named Denice, and her mother is concerned that Lisa is antisocial. An introvert who prefers journalism over friends, Lisa doesn't dress or carry herself in a way that pleases her Southern social butterfly mom; Lisa dons dark baggy clothes year-round and hides behind her long black hair. Her best friend Preethy is the only one who seems to understand. Wanting to promote truth and honesty in a world of skewed realities, Lisa becomes the editor of her high school newspaper, but she has no idea what she's in for: She nearly ruins the outcome for her school election and appears on CNN as the youngest member of the press to have witnessed a modern-day prison execution. Peppered with a diverse cast of characters, this novel tackles sexual harassment, the death sentence vs. life without parole, and the reliability of social and news media. VERDICT Fans of thrillers and truth-seeking protagonists will enjoy this fast-paced coming-of-age read, which lends a voice to the call for a more conscious society.-Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden M.S., Newport News, VA
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September 15, 2021
Grades 7-10 Stop the presses! Fifteen-year-old Lisa Rives has become editor of her school newspaper, The Beachside Bulletin; that would be the same Lisa Rives who has said, "What's more fake, I ask you, than a school newspaper?" So why, then, has she become its editor? In part because her BFF, Preethy, has twisted her arm; in larger part, though, because, as she has also said, "I want to know the truth." For strong-minded Lisa, the quotidian stuff of high-school life is not news; she wants to report on the truth of a larger world, and when she learns of the impending execution of a local murderer, she's determined to cover it despite the resistance of the school's vice principal. As her efforts become more strenuous, they capture the attention of the media, even the good, gray New York Times. Himself a journalist, Lockette has done an excellent job of infusing his compelling story with verisimilitude and clear writing. Let's hope that his readers will share Lisa's passion for the press.
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Starred review from July 15, 2021
A 15-year-old journalist gets a schooling in the power--and responsibility--of the press. Setting up and then deftly tweaking expectations the way he did in his debut, Atty at Law (2020), Lockette pitches self-styled "brainy rebel" Lisa Rives into a whirl of hard choices and gut checks after she takes over editorship of her school's paper as, mostly, a favor to her bestie (and the paper's only other employee), Preethy Narend. Her first (but far from last) lesson in journalism's hazards and rewards comes after she asks the two candidates for class president to identify with a political party. Her question recasts the election as a contest between a dedicated do-gooder focused on sexual equality in school sports and a Donald Trump mini-me--who, this being red-state Alabama--wins in a landslide. But Lisa has much bigger fish to fry after discovering that state law seemingly gives her the right to attend a convicted killer's upcoming execution. Could she go? Should she? The blowback both in and beyond school when news of her formal request gets out includes national attention, a quick suspension, and, toughest of all, conflict with Preethy. But Lisa finds some unexpected allies, notably her mom, who turns out to be far more than the shallow stereotype her Southern belle persona suggests. The cast defaults to White, excepting Preethy's Indian family and a minor Black character. Wry, engrossing, even occasionally funny--right up to a gut-wrenching capper. (Fiction. 12-15)
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