HOW TO MAKE A GOLEM AND TERRIFY PEOPLE

Name: HOW TO MAKE A GOLEM AND TERRIFY PEOPLE
Author: Alette J. Willis
ISBN: 978-0-86315-840-7

by Alette J. Willis ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2012

Some exciting moments but the character development seems forced, the monster not all that terrifying, and the “conquering...

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Two classmates and an ancient alchemist help a meek Edinburgh teen get a handle on her fears.

As if being constantly harassed by Euan at school isn’t bad enough, a home burglary on the night of her 13th birthday leaves emotionally fragile Edda on the verge of a breakdown. She's desperate enough even to believe strange new classmate Michael Scot’s claim that he can grant her wish to be protected from danger. Warning that wishes are tricksy things, he orders her to create a heart using materials linked to her terrors and then to bury it inside a monster outlined in clay. Is it all a prank? Her loyal friend Lucy and even Euan—who in an unlikely twist becomes a reluctant ally after Edda learns that he’s a victim of domestic abuse—think so. Hearing heavy footsteps in the night but finding deep footprints, dead birds and other small animals in the yard every morning, Edda soon has a change of heart. So do Lucy and Euan after the trio meets the golem face to, well, face. Wisely realizing that “you can make monsters on your own, but you need your friends’ help to stop them,” Edda enlists the two in a scheme to change the golem from an aggressive to a peaceable creature. By the time they succeed Scot has vanished, even from Lucy’s and Euan’s memories, but so have Edda’s fears.

Some exciting moments but the character development seems forced, the monster not all that terrifying, and the “conquering fear” theme works better on a metaphorical level than an actual one. (Fantasy. 10-13)

Pub Date: April 12, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-86315-840-7

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Floris

Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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A YEAR DOWN YONDER

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

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Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”

This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

From the Maggie Brooklyn Mysteries series

by Leslie Margolis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2010

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In this series debut, Maggie Sinclair tracks down a dognapper and solves a mystery about the noises in the walls of her Brooklyn brownstone apartment building. The 12-year-old heroine, who shares a middle name—Brooklyn—with her twin brother, Finn, is juggling two dogwalking jobs she’s keeping secret from her parents, and somehow she attracts the ire of the dogs’ former walker. Maggie tells her story in the first person—she’s self-possessed and likable, even when her clueless brother invites her ex–best friend, now something of an enemy, to their shared 12th birthday party. Maggie’s attention to details helps her to figure out why dogs seem to be disappearing and why there seem to be mice in the walls of her building, though astute readers will pick up on the solution to at least one mystery before Maggie solves it. There’s a brief nod to Nancy Drew, but the real tensions in this contemporary preteen story are more about friendship and boy crushes than skullduggery. Still, the setting is appealing, and Maggie is a smart and competent heroine whose personal life is just as interesting as—if not more than—her detective work. (Mystery. 10-13)