A charming coming-of-age story full of humor, mystery, and romance set in the Old West.
In Sanders’ debut YA novel, a 17-year-old boy unravels the truth behind the mysterious circumstances of his father’s death, discovering love and courage on the way.
Despite support from his mother and his younger sister, Sam, Cody Harrison has been haunted by despair since his father died on a hunting trip they had taken together. Frustrated by his inability to recall the details of the trip, Cody also struggles to keep his family’s ranch, the T Bar S, from falling into disrepair while working odd jobs procured by his spunky sister. Sanders ably describes the tensions that emerge between siblings, especially siblings as different as gung-ho Sam and Eeyore-spirited Cody. Sam announces another gig; a Western film will be shot nearby, and carpenters are needed. Cody is talked into helping build the set by Ben Liebowitz, the congenial, cigar-wielding filmmaker. Their dialogue is often comical, such as when Liebowitz smooth talks Cody into yet another job—teaching J.T., the teen star, how to ride a horse—“Listen, kid…I saw you and that horse of yours tear almost straight down a hill at damn near a full gallop…But I guess you know your limitations better than I do…If you don’t think you can handle it then just say so.” The Western turns out to be about Billy MacAllister whose tale of rescuing a stolen herd of cattle was frequently told to him by his father, and Cody’s been having recurring dreams about him. On set, Cody falls for Angel, a beautiful co-worker who helps him regain his confidence. Sanders’ characters, full of earnest longing, maintain a steady appeal, and the author does a fine job of showing the parallel goals of Sam and Angel—to pull Cody out of his self-defeating rut. Cody’s unraveling of the mystery is wholly surprising, and characters’ destinies are perfectly tied up at book’s end. Unfortunately, J.T.’s complex character is left in the dust when Cody’s finished training him.
A charming coming-of-age story full of humor, mystery, and romance set in the Old West.Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0692318898
Page Count: 222
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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