A sci-fi look at what humanity has within itself—and what it could still learn.
Gabriel offers a hopeful novel about the future of the human race, with a little alien intervention.
Denver Jenkins is 9 years old when an interstellar craft, crewed by three aliens, crash-lands in Canada—an event that would come to be known as the Visitation. The aliens, which include the gruff Big Louis, the humorous Turnip and the beautiful researcher Dandelion, spend several years researching Earth, watching television and repairing their craft. Soon they’re ready for the next stage in their journey, which was meant to be a simple delivery run. However, Denver, now a talented young hacker, manages to exploit a vulnerability in the ship’s “mission box” and steal precious data. The visitors resolve to get that data back in order to avoid breaking laws and regulations against providing information to less-advanced planets. In the process, they bring the young human onto the ship, where he sees Earth from above and exclaims: “[T]here’s so many people down there living in misery. There are machines on this ship that could abolish poverty, help grow enough food, control the environment, and make enough wealth for everybody….I can’t understand why you don’t seem to want to help?” Denver’s perspective changes everything; soon, Dandelion discovers that she can help the planet by using psychic power, and so she brings children with psychic talent aboard the ship. What these children do will change the course of Earth’s history. Throughout this book, the author makes his alien characters delightfully human, from Turnip’s obsession with television, which seems to give him an American accent, to Dandelion’s immense compassion (and remarkable wardrobe). He approaches his sci-fi tale with humor and empathy, and he shows a keen eye for the behavior of children. Although Denver and his alien friends employ jarring jargon at times, the plot is strong enough to support the technological terms and scientific anomalies. Gabriel offers humorous antics as well, as when Turnip uses a holographic device to masquerade as Denver—to disastrous effect. The overall message, however, remains clear: His story’s humans are refreshingly good-hearted and need only a little guidance to help make their planet better. Overall, the book is a pleasant read and features an uplifting conclusion that’s appropriate for children and optimistic adults.
A sci-fi look at what humanity has within itself—and what it could still learn.Pub Date: July 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481799157
Page Count: 234
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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