Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




The Indefatigable Richard Peck (page 5)


Cover art for GHOSTS I HAVE BEEN
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 1977

"Never one for false modesty (on page one Blossom bills herself as "the most famous girl in two countries"), Peck's heroine proves to be such a redoubtable "Seeress" that despite the extravagant self-promotion, she just about manages to live up to the hype."
So closely does this follow The Ghost Belonged to Me (1975) that at times Peck's sequel on Second Sight verges on déja vu. Read full book review >
Cover art for MONSTER NIGHT AT GRANDMA'S HOUSE
CHILDREN'S
Released: May 9, 1977

"Young readers might recognize every detail of Toby's vigil—but, as Peck doesn't make them share the terrors, their emotional involvement is minimal."
Peck's first story for younger children takes Toby through a scary summer night at his grandmother's Victorian house. Read full book review >
Cover art for ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE?
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 1976

"As we expect this to be read as a chiller rather than a case study, we'll rate it medium cool—fast-paced and frighteningly accurate but without the quality of inevitability that keeps one awake after lights out."
Gail Osborn's ordeal begins with an obscene note pinned to her school locker, builds until she is raped and beaten by her best friend's disturbed steady, and is intensified throughout by her isolation—first, when family, friends, and counselors are indifferent or incapable of reacting to the anonymous threats, and, later, when a sneering police chief and timid, hypocritical townspeople dissuade her from prosecuting a boy from a prominent family. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE GHOST BELONGED TO ME
CHILDREN'S
Released: April 28, 1975

"But Peck throws in enough scary moments to prove that he'd be a winner in any campfire storytelling session, and in that spirit he will keep his audience giggling and just a little frightened at the same time."
"There are several opinions that people hold regarding ghosts, and not one of them would clinch an argument." Read full book review >
Cover art for REPRESENTING SUPER DOLL
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 1974

"Velma indeed is a likable girl and, as Sheri says, she doesn't miss much."
Verna is a wholesome farm girl who finds being bused to high school in industrial Dunthorpe a bit of a culture shock, but before long she is in with the girls she had aimed for and even accompanies one of them, beautiful though stupid Darlene, to her appearances in New York City as Central U.S. Teen Super Doll. Read full book review >
Cover art for THROUGH A BRIEF DARKNESS
CHILDREN'S
Released: Nov. 19, 1973

In his third YA novel Peck wisely relinquishes any pretense to relevance or depth and comes out with a tightly drawn romantic melodrama about sixteen year-old Karen, protected daughter of a big time crook, who is suddenly pulled out of boarding school and hustled off to "relatives" in England, there to discover gradually that she has actually been kidnapped by ruthless members of a rival syndicate. Read full book review >