Ghost-story fans won’t be disappointed in the end, if they can slog that far through all the low-wattage civil-service...
The threat of imminent shutdown prompts a small government agency to hire a pair of young independent contractors to capture a ghost in this British import.
On the way to a pleasantly tidy ending, Shearer delivers some comical chills and twists, but he takes too long to set them up. Driven by a blustering government cost-cutter’s ultimatum, the four (or five, counting the cat) remaining members of the antique Ministry of Ghosts—originally founded in 1792 to determine whether spirits are bunkum or real—decide a fresh approach is needed. The “help wanted” card they place in the dusty window of their ramshackle building draws two students from the local school: strong-minded Thruppence Coddley, daughter of a fishmonger, and timorous but game classmate Tim Legge, both white. The author salts his tale liberally with subtle clues and oddly quaint characters, and he eventually arrives at some startling (for unobservant readers, at least) revelations. But aside from brief mentions in a prologue, the two young people don’t even show up to get the ghost hunting under way until seven wordy introductory chapters have trundled slowly by, filled with eye-glazing exchanges and daily routines in an office where nothing much has changed in decades.
Ghost-story fans won’t be disappointed in the end, if they can slog that far through all the low-wattage civil-service satire. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5107-0473-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
A delightful, briskly paced caper.
Juggling a misplaced will, a missing aunt, and an unscrupulous grandma—not to mention a sick puppy and, hidden in a basement freezer, a beloved caregiver’s corpse—keeps two young orphans on the hop.
Devastating as it is to come home from school to find Great-Grammy, their guardian, dead, 12-year-old Rosie and her younger brother, Baker, have no time to nurse their grief if they want to stay out of the clutches of her daughter, “Grim” Gram Hesper, who has been campaigning to ship her octogenarian mother off to a senior condo and the children to separate boarding schools and sell the house and property to a developer. Fortunately, canny Great-Grammy made elaborate preparations to keep her expected demise a secret long enough for the children to track down both the errant will and a far-traveling favorite aunt. Unfortunately, carrying out her plan turns into a nonstop whirl of complications as the doorbell and phone never seem to stop ringing, it gets harder for Rosie to keep friendly new neighbor Karleen at arm’s length, and Grim Hesper sweeps in to show prospective buyers around. Chucking in a red herring to spice up the frantic search, a budding friendship to add warmth, and even a set of recipes, Jones dishes up a delicious denouement on the way to a resolution rich in just deserts. Karleen has brown skin; other main characters present White.
A delightful, briskly paced caper. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4622-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Chills and thrills aplenty.
Two young travelers find wonder and terror on the spectacular Kangia Icefjord.
After surviving both natural hazards and hijacking by wildlife smugglers in Escape Galápagos (2019), the adventures continue for 13-year-old Ezzy Skylar and her younger brother, Luke. No sooner do they arrive with their dad in Ilulissat on Greenland’s western coast than they are embroiled in further eco-themed bad behavior. Ezzy and Luke find themselves shot at, left in a locked room, forced to make their way through a deadly iceberg field (once on foot and later by boat), and, most thrilling of all, kayaking wildly through the glacier’s interior down a meltwater tunnel. At last, however, they uncover an unethical plan to stimulate the local trade in tourists eager to see melting glaciers. Encounters with fetching sled dog puppies, impressive humpback whales, and enormous mosquitoes add lighter notes to these misadventures, and frequent references to climate change and its effects supply a unifying theme. Prager closes with notes on what is real (the science and most of the setting) and what is made up in the story. Main characters present White; some supporting characters are cued (though not named) as Inuit. The Skylar children’s judgmental statements about traditional food and hunting practices are presented with little context to help readers understand Native Greenlandic perspectives. Illustrations not seen.
Chills and thrills aplenty. (maps) (Eco-fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-943431-70-0
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Tumblehome Learning
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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