A gripping depiction of a tragic epidemic and the sometimes heroic responses of those affected. (Historical fiction. 10-15)
As the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918 in Toronto reaches epidemic proportion, the local newspapers run lengthy lists of “yesterday’s dead,” a chilling backdrop to 13-year-old maidservant Meredith’s personal struggle as the disease ravages the household where she works.
Impoverished, Meredith had to lie about her age in order to be hired by the Watertons. While the friendly cook and kind chauffeur immediately reach out to her, the butler, Parker, who rules the household, is rude and critical. Tasked not only with helping in the kitchen but also with watching the motherless youngest child in the family, lively 6-year-old Harry, Meredith mostly manages, struggling only with the middle daughter, severely spoiled Maggie. As the disease begins to overwhelm the city, Dr. Waterton is called away, leaving Parker and the eldest son, Jack (to whom Meredith feels a certain attraction) in charge. Then family and staff begin to fall ill, and responsibility finally shifts almost solely to Meredith. While largely predictable, and peopled with stock characters (albeit engaging ones), the strong sense of place and time and the vivid peril of the deadly disease keep the plot rushing believably forward. Meredith’s very human fluctuations between despair and determination in the face of tragedy add considerably to the authenticity of her character.
A gripping depiction of a tragic epidemic and the sometimes heroic responses of those affected. (Historical fiction. 10-15)Pub Date: April 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-926920-32-0
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
Salva Dut is 11 years old when war raging in the Sudan separates him from his family. To avoid the conflict, he walks for years with other refugees, seeking sanctuary and scarce food and water. Park simply yet convincingly depicts the chaos of war and an unforgiving landscape as they expose Salva to cruelties both natural and man-made. The lessons Salva remembers from his family keep him from despair during harsh times in refugee camps and enable him, as a young man, to begin a new life in America. As Salva’s story unfolds, readers also learn about another Sudanese youth, Nya, and how these two stories connect contributes to the satisfying conclusion. This story is told as fiction, but it is based on real-life experiences of one of the “Lost Boys” of the Sudan. Salva and Nya’s compelling voices lift their narrative out of the “issue” of the Sudanese War, and only occasionally does the explanation of necessary context intrude in the storytelling. Salva’s heroism and the truth that water is a source of both conflict and reconciliation receive equal, crystal-clear emphasis in this heartfelt account. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-25127-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
SEEN & HEARD
Year-round fun.
Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”
This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
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