An atmospheric, romantic tale: of the sea, which "will take what it wants and keep what it has taken"; of a captain's widow who (truly forsaking all others) has been waiting 30 years for a sign from her drowned husband; of the old woman's son who fled in his youth from the treacherous sea—and perhaps from his mother's indifference; and of the granddaughter, also named Geneva, who goes to help when Gram breaks her ankle and who thus becomes involved in her desperate nightly search along the shore. There's another character too, named Seward, but only the two Genevas can see him or his footprints as he prowls the shore in the sea's employ, hoping to find the "sign" before Gram does so that he can return it according to the bargain he made with the sea when he was drowning years before. It was Seward who told Gram that the swallowed ships, with "all the poor drowned sailors," are kept at the bottom of the sea to guard its treasures, and that her husband was down there struggling to send her some sort of token. And when young Geneva retrieves from the waves the wooden figurehead carved in Gram's image long ago, it is Seward who warns that the sea will have it back because "the ship can't see without its eyes." But Gram is stubborn and it takes a hurricane to wrest it from her—and her son's arrival at the crucial moment to save her from drowning. This fortuitous last undercuts the seriousness of the tale, and there is more to come. Also, unlike Tuck Everlasting (which also had more life and incident), the plot of . . . the Amaryllis is somewhat precariously based—on a notion (the drowned treasure patrol) that is just not compelling enough for the elemental magnitude of the struggle. Still, as Babbit projects it, Gram's devotion—whether steadfast or obsessive—has its fascination.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1977
ISBN: 0312370083
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1977
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
In an imaginative wordless picture book, Wiesner (illustrator of Kite Flyer, 1986) tours a dream world suggested by the books and objects in a boy's room. A series of transitions—linked by a map in the book that the boy was reading as he fell asleep—wafts him, pajama-clad, from an aerial view of hedge-bordered fields to a chessboard with chess pieces, some changing into their realistic counterparts (plus a couple of eerie roundheaded figures based on pawns that reappear throughout); next appear a castle; a mysterious wood in which lurks a huge, whimsical dragon; the interior of a neoclassical palace; and a series of fantastic landscapes that eventually transport the boy back to his own bed. Most interesting here are the visual links Wiesner uses in his journey's evolution; it's fun to trace the many details from page to page. There's a bow to Van Allsburg, and another to Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, but Wiesner's broad double-spreads of a dream world—whose muted colors suggest a silent space outside of time—have their own charm. Intriguing.
Pub Date: April 20, 1988
ISBN: 978-0-06-156741-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1988
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