Rebel McKenzie

May 14, 2012
Ransom (Ida Honeysuckle Discovers the World) again creates a heroine with an
unusual passion: 12-year-old Rebel McKenzie wants to be a paleontologist, and her goal this summer is to attend the Ice Age Kids’ Dig and Safari. Instead, she is stuck babysitting her seven-year-old nephew, Rudy, in a mobile home while her 26-year-old sister, Lynette, attends beauty school. An outgoing smart aleck with a talent for “burp-talking,” Rebel decides—along with new friend Lacey Jane—to enter a local beauty pageant to win the money she needs for the Dig. Peopled by offbeat characters—including an annoyingly perfect pageant winner named Bambi; elderly Odenia Matthews, a former hand model who trains the girls for the pageant; and an enormous cat named Doublewide—the book is especially strong in the development of Rebel’s relationship with Rudy, who talks to God at lunchtime and is obsessed with fashion—for corpses. Surprises in both plot and character development create a quick pace; extra material like Rudy’s cartoons and pages from Rebel’s “field notebook” provide welcome and often amusing insight. Ages 9–12. Agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary.

May 1, 2012
Twelve-year-old Rebel McKenzie is aptly named. While the aspiring paleontologist dreams of unearthing ancient fossils, she must instead spend her summer watching her 7-year-old nephew, Rudy--who prefers hot dogs with his spaghetti, misses his absent father, and routinely saves a seat for God during lunch. Rebel longs to escape the mobile-home park where her sister lives and join the "Ice Age Kids' Dig and Safari" camp, but the family lacks the funds for her to do so. Over the summer, Rebel soon discovers others who are also longing for something: her short-tempered neighbor Lacey Jane, whose mother died the previous winter, and Miss Odenia, a retired hand model who yearns to return to her childhood town. A beauty contest with a cash prize seems to be Rebel's golden opportunity to achieve her goal of getting out of town and into camp. Ransom comically depicts Rebel's endeavors to prepare for the contest and dethrone local beauty queen/neighborhood nemesis Bambi. However, Ransom carefully balances the tale's humor with subtler scenes that convey Lacey Jane's poignant struggle to adjust to her mother's death and Rudy's fragile vulnerability. Spunky and sassy, Rebel redefines beauty pageants in this rollicking tale. (Fiction. 10-13)

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June 1, 2012

Gr 4-7-As her name suggests, Rebel McKenzie does not like taking "no" for an answer. When her mom tells her she can't afford to send her to the Ice Age Kids' Dig, the 12-year-old plans to take a Greyhound to the summer camp. Unfortunately, she misses the bus and when a policeman returns her home her parents ground her for the rest of the summer. Her older sister, Lynette, saves Rebel by inviting her to move into the nearby "Grandview Estates" (a trailer park) and watch her seven-year-old nephew while Lynette attends beauty school. Rebel is still obsessed with making money and attending camp the following summer so she can fulfill her dream of becoming a paleontologist. She finds a friend in Lacey Jane and an enemy in beautiful and bossy Bambi. When Rebel learns that Bambi has recently won $500 in a beauty contest, she signs up for the Frog Level Volunteer Fire Department's beauty contest. After all, how hard can it be? Luckily, an elderly neighbor agrees to tutor Rebel and Lacey Jane in all things pageant related. Humorous southern euphemisms abound; Rebel's "Field Notebook" entries, beauty quizzes and articles, and cartoon panels are interspersed throughout. The story never gets weighed down by the many issues facing the characters. Rebel is a likable protagonist who certainly knows how to dream big, and this novel will make a fresh addition to summer reading lists.-Alison O'Reilly, Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library, Cutchogue, NY

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2012
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* Twelve-year-old Rebel McKenzie, who is practically a paleontologist, sees her summer take an unexpected turn when, instead of attending the Ice Age Kids' Dig and Safari, she is commandeered to babysit her young nephew, Rudy. Having relocated to the Grandview Estates mobile community with Rudy and his beauty-school-student mom, Rebel stumbles upon a plan to raise money for camp; she will win the Frog Level Volunteer Fire Department's beauty pageant. How hard can that be for the most interesting person on the Grandview Estates? With a cast of characters that includes a 21-pound Siamese cat who can pee in a toilet, a former hand model, a seven-year-old who picnics with God at lunchtime, and an up-and-coming pageant contestant and her motherwho act as if they live in Buckingham Palace as opposed to a trailer parkRebel is hardly surrounded by bores. Everyone is worth knowing in this rich and funny book. While Rebel learns a thing or two about loyalty, family, and empathy, her sharp-as-a-tack wit and boatload of sass guarantees that no lesson is delivered with a heavy hand. Like a blueberry Slurpee on a scorching hot day, Rebel McKenzie is perfect for summer, when everything can go right, even if nothing goes as planned.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)