A middle child muddles through one minor mishap after another in this Canadian author’s lightweight, low-key debut for young readers. Caught between the reckless schemes of older brother Andy, who’s forever promoting such harebrained ideas as taking a shortcut across a railway bridge, and the challenges of having a little sibling, Leonard, who is already smart enough to cozen both older brothers out of all of their Halloween loot—and to stay off that bridge—Owen’s life isn’t so much “secret” as subject to sudden complications. Though Cumyn draws his incidents, by and large, from the standard chapter-book menu—the battle with bullies, the wildly misinformed conversation about sex, the supporting cast of inept male adults, etc.—he does subject his preteen Everylad to moments of high triumph and terror. He closes with a poignant, ice-breaking encounter between Owen and classmate Sylvia, on whom he’s had a longstanding crush, on the very day she and her parents pack up to move away. It’s not exactly venturesome writing, but Hurwitz fans and other readers who prefer to stay in familiar territory will enjoy following the ups and down of this closely knit trio of siblings. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-88899-506-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
Filled with high adventure, this sequel to Silverwing (1997) stands well on its own, continuing the adventures of Shade, a bat in search of his lost father. Shade, along with his companions, flies into what seems to be an indoor bat paradise, created by humans. The humans aren’t as benevolent as they seem—they are attaching explosives to owls and bats, and using the creatures to bomb enemy cities. In a race against time, bats, rats, and owls join to escape the humans’ clutches and to stop Goth, a cannibal bat, who is attempting to conquer the bat world with the help of the evil god, Zotz. Criss-crossing plotlines keep the story hopping—an ongoing battle between bats and owls, Shade’s competition with Chinook for the attentions of Marina, an intelligent, pretty bat—while excellent characterizations make the anthropomorphizing believable. Despite some fudging of natural science to cast owls in a villainous role, this book evokes sympathy for bats, a much-maligned species. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82674-5
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
Sean O'Brien and his sister Annie leave their dying mother in famine-and plague-stricken County Cork to head for America. As protection, they carry their mother's prayers, the cloak of a kindly British dragoon, and a gold torc (necklace) that's been in the family for ``1000'' years. Before reaching their father in California, Sean and Annie meet a sampling of late 19th-century America's best and worst: two good-hearted Bostonians (twin sisters); a black man, born free, and his bossy wife; an evil bounty hunter; a charming riverboat captain, a former Civil War colonel; mutinous pioneers; a gold prospector who is a fellow Irishman. The children lie at death's door a little too often and are aided by far too many miracles, while one particular bad guy crops up with remarkable frequency, given the vast landscape. Still, what the story lacks in credibility it makes up for in suspense; even if it is unbelievable that the children find their mother alive and well in California, it's also the kind of happy surprise that will keep readers avidly turning the pages. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-670-84851-4
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1993
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