A hard-to-categorize novel that will appeal most to readers who value voice over plot or who have a particular interest in...
In Galambos’ novel, 13-year-old Michael Costa uncovers deep secrets about his family and hometown during a summer spent digging holes, literal and metaphorical.
Michael has always known that there was something peculiar about his small hometown of Best Harbor, Mass.—sure, everyone attends the local Roman Catholic church on Sunday, but why do those from his part of town, the Spit, not take Communion? Why do Spitters all have kitchens in the basement where the women prepare special Friday-night dinners? Why does Best Harbor bear an aura of deep paranoia and suspicion? When L.T. Haymaker—“L.T.” stands for “Lost Tribe,” as in the Lost Tribes of Israel—moves to town with his anthropologist mother and inspires his new best friend to follow him in digging for the treasure of 16th-century Portuguese explorer Miguel Cortereal, the answers to Michael’s questions slowly surface, but is Michael willing to accept them? Galambos (Stealing Pike’s Peak, 2000) uses a coming-of-age plot structure to investigate the mind-set of a community of deeply closeted Crypto-Jews who, half a millennium after the Inquisition, still hide their Jewishness under a thick veneer of Catholicism. Michael’s first-person narration is distinctive; he describes his neighbors attending a fado performance, for instance, as “Misfits, misfits and losers, those strange misfit losers only wanted to watch, watch without so much as ever letting themselves get watched, lest they be seen, I guess, seen as human, seen as human even if only of the misfit kind.” Such Ginsbergian riffs run through the story, as Michael, L.T. and their pals dig holes, then watch through the night to try to catch whoever is filling them up. The plot’s reach, however, is limited: L.T. wishes he were Jewish, and Michael discovers things about his own identity, but Michael doesn’t really understand why it’s all such a big secret. And indeed, it’s a little unclear why residents in a New England town still live in such terror of the Inquisition. The quest for Cortereal’s treasure falls off and instead the narrative examines the nature of secrets and holes: How do you define something by its nothingness, by its not-telling? A question one could ask of this novel.
A hard-to-categorize novel that will appeal most to readers who value voice over plot or who have a particular interest in Crypto-Jews.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2012
ISBN: 9780988257917
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Garnet Star Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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