A heartwarming tale of friendship and the power of storytelling.
Two boys meet a mysterious old man on their magical train journey.
Billy’s a little rough around the edges. Pushing smaller kids around, talking back to his teachers, and arguing with his parents earned him the nickname “Billy the bully.” Then there’s Stephen, the polar opposite of Billy: a quiet, sensitive kid who spends most of his time writing poems and stories in his notebook. Having had a moment of revelation regarding his behavior, Billy befriends Stephen and makes a promise to change his ways. Soon they’re friends who genuinely care about each other; with Stephen’s good influence, Billy becomes kinder and more empathetic. Nevett creates two very real and complex characters in Billy and Stephen, despite the fact that they’re only children. They infuse the story with a sense of wonder that’s usually only found in a child’s point of view. In contrast, Billy and Stephen’s parents—especially the mothers—feel like mere sketches, without the richness of character that their children possess. Inspired by a dream Stephen has about an old man waiting for a train, the two friends decide to go on a journey by train. The day of their voyage soon arrives, and after boarding the train, they’re joined by an old man named Stan—the same man from Stephen’s dream—who seems to appear out of nowhere. Stan spins yarn after yarn about his own train travels that took him all over the world, from the crowded trains of India to the vast lands of Canada and America, and the small villages of England and Scotland. Finally, he tells the boys about the island of Trinidad and its famous “Last Train.” Nevett tells a magical, inventive story, but his prose is often stilted with awkward phrasings and unnatural-sounding dialogue. Also, numerous grammatical errors, such as missing punctuation and misplaced quotation marks, distract from enjoying the plot. The significance of storytelling is highlighted in a play the two boys create based on the old man’s tales, and Nevett adds an air of intrigue with a shocking connection between the old man and Billy.
A heartwarming tale of friendship and the power of storytelling.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-1467897822
Page Count: 96
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2012
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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