Set against a vivid picture of life in the Panama Canal Zone during the Carter Administration, this tale of a deceptively healthy military family trying to deny past tragedy has a theatrical flavor. In a 24-hour period in 1977, Lane, who is 12, and her younger brother, Charlie, join the rest of the neighborhood kids to hang out, build a fort, then row out to a low tower set in a nearby lock of the Canal. Their joking, bickering, and horseplay seem perfectly normal, but there's an underlying tension, fueled by a mystery revealed in tossed-off hints and clues and in an album of oddly cropped family photos, Charlie's bursts of unreasoning aggression, and Lane's chronic, near-hysterical anxiety. As their parents party obliviously, Charlie sneaks out and subsequently breaks his leg falling out of a tree. During their night together in a Panamanian hospital, Lane unburdens herself at last: She and Charlie had an older sister who was killed in an automobile accident, and their parents have cut her out of every photo and forbidden any mention of her name. The unique character of Canal Zone society, with its hostile relationships between the Panamanians and both the military and the ``Zonians'' (descendants of North American settlers) is drawn with such feeling and clarity that the plot itself sometimes takes a backseat; despite this, the subtle dysfunction of Lane's family is effectively drawn. Griffin's first novel for young readers will leave them sober and thoughtful. (afterword) (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-395-81181-3
Page Count: 199
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1996
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
There is something profoundly elemental going on in Smalls’s book: the capturing of a moment of unmediated joy. It’s not melodramatic, but just a Saturday in which an African-American father and son immerse themselves in each other’s company when the woman of the house is away. Putting first things first, they tidy up the house, with an unheralded sense of purpose motivating their actions: “Then we clean, clean, clean the windows,/wipe, wipe, wash them right./My dad shines in the windows’ light.” When their work is done, they head for the park for some batting practice, then to the movies where the boy gets to choose between films. After a snack, they work their way homeward, racing each other, doing a dance step or two, then “Dad takes my hand and slows down./I understand, and we slow down./It’s a long, long walk./We have a quiet talk and smile.” Smalls treats the material without pretense, leaving it guileless and thus accessible to readers. Hays’s artwork is wistful and idyllic, just as this day is for one small boy. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-316-79899-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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