A look at an obscure but important part of United States history
In 1942, 14-year-old protagonist Kiska Baranoff’s island world turns upside down after Japan attacks Alaska.
For centuries Kiska’s people, the Aleuts, have lived according to their traditional ways on their island homes off the coast of Alaska. The men hunt seals, venturing into the ocean in baidarkas, or traditional kayaks. Kiska dreams of becoming a hunter herself, but tradition forbids the use of kayaks by women. Kiska knows women have other, important jobs to do: they gather sea gull eggs and clams, cut and dry salmon and other fish, and render seal oil. Not long after the Japanese attack, men in American Army uniforms land on Kiska’s island. They immediately round up all the villagers and force them into the belly of a ship to be taken to an undisclosed destination. Three hundred other Aleutians from many other islands in the archipelago are also forced onto the ship. It then travels 2,000 miles away and leaves them on Admiralty Island, an unfamiliar and stark environment. There they are housed in a decrepit building, an abandoned cannery that the Aleuts eventually improve. Soon after meeting an elder shaman, Agafon Krukoff, Kiska becomes his apprentice. Through his teachings, Kiska discover a way to help her people survive. Kiska narrates, describing the inhumane conditions, the soldiers’ racism, and terrible losses. The quiet tone of Smelcer’s text softens the cruelty the Aleutians suffer, and in the character of Kiska, he gives readers a strong, resourceful heroine.
A look at an obscure but important part of United States history . (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-935248-93-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Leapfrog
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
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