An entertaining, if somewhat undemanding, YA adventure.
Reide’s debut YA novel, the first book in her Adventurers series, offers a little bit of conflict and a lot of escapades.
Twelve-year-old Dana, a city girl, arrives in the tiny town of Troll Creek (population 200) to spend two weeks of her summer vacation with her soon-to-be stepsiblings, Amy, 14, and Jack, 11. Neither girl is happy about the visit—or their parents’ impending marriage—and each takes an instant dislike to the other. Soon after Dana’s arrival, the trio sets out on mountain bikes to camp out near an abandoned coal mine. Along the way, Dana and Amy try to outcycle each other, while Jack tries to keep peace with soothing remarks and the sandwiches for which he’s famous: hummus, apple, tomato, carrot and avocado on pumpernickel bread. On the second day, Dana accidentally falls off a cliff and must spend a dark and very stormy night alone in a cave, which, as the twisty plot would have it, leads directly to the old mine. In the mine’s numerous, often collapsed tunnels, the kids manage to reunite, and they also find skeletons, stolen goods and a masked man with a gun. Although readers may find it refreshing to have girls do the fighting and a boy do the “cooking,” the author doesn’t flesh out any of the characters enough for them to be especially memorable. That said, their relationships do evolve, as their survival depends not just on smarts and spunk, but also on cooperation. Middle-grade readers will appreciate the fact that there are hardly any adults around except for the bad guys, who aren’t too hard for the heroes to outwit. The fast pace, too, will keep them eagerly turning pages.
An entertaining, if somewhat undemanding, YA adventure.Pub Date: July 14, 2011
ISBN: 978-0986964701
Page Count: 212
Publisher: MR Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2014
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
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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