Hunter ratchets up the tension in the return of the house pet turned feral warrior. Renamed Fireheart, the brave feline has little time to revel in his acceptance by Thunderclan before he and his best friend Graystripe must retrieve the refugee WindClan cats. But success leads to tragedy as Graystripe inadvertently kills a RiverClan warrior. Bad feelings are exacerbated by rumors of poaching in rival territories. Clan discord has private echoes as Graystripe falls for a RiverClan warrior, while Fireheart is torn between duty to his Clan and affection for his “kittypet” kin. Beneath this swirl of clashing loyalties runs the dark thread of Fireheart’s continuing suspicions of ThunderClan’s ambitious deputy leader. Hunter’s world keeps getting more finely drawn, and her characters more complex. While the focus is upon inner turmoil and inter-Clan intrigue, Fireheart still appreciates the pleasures of the hunt and the fury of battle, although readers may share his disappointment that combat fails to resolve his conflicting responsibilities. With enough backstory for newcomers to find their way, established fans will be on edge for the next title. (chart of allegiances) (Fantasy. 11+)
Pub Date: June 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-000003-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2003
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A well-loved author brings together, on a Maine vacation, characters from two of her books. Peter's parents have assured him that though Sheila ("The Great") Tubman and her family will be nearby, they'll have their own house; but instead, they find a shared arrangement in which the two families become thoroughly intertwined—which suits everyone but the curmudgeonly Peter. Irrepressible little brother Fudge, now five, is planning to marry Sheila, who agrees to babysit with Peter's toddler sister; there's a romance between the grandparents in the two families; and the wholesome good fun, including a neighborhood baseball game featuring an aging celebrity player, seems more important than Sheila and Peter's halfhearted vendetta. The story's a bit tame (no controversies here), but often amusingly true to life and with enough comic episodes to satisfy fans.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-525-44672-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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