Kiki and Jacques

Gr 3–5—Jacques has been bullied by an older boy for years, and lately the older boy has been telling Jacques to do illegal things. Jacques has been trying to avoid the older boy and has resisted him until now. But new pressures come down on the 12-year-old: Jacques's grandmother is having money troubles and may lose her bridal shop, and his father has been drinking more and was fired from his job. When Kiki and her family, refugees from Somalia, arrive in the small Maine town, Jacques starts to look outside himself. He soon becomes friends with Kiki, but her brother, a star soccer player, doesn't approve. Jacques, who had hopes of being the captain of the soccer team, now has to deal with Mohamed, who is a much better player and doesn't seem to like him. Meanwhile, a kind of love triangle develops among Jacques, Kiki, and another local girl. Readers will come away with a sense of cultural differences between the American residents of Jacques's French-speaking town and Kiki's Somali family. Unfortunately, there are too many subplots packed into this slim novel, which lend the overall work a rushed and incomplete feel. The ending is happy, though predictable and a bit too neat.