An accessible novel for reluctant readers that highlights Lakota lives.
The adventures of a wild stallion, a Lakota boy, and a big race.
In the second book in this Depression-era series following 2022’s The Land Grab, 13-year-old Alfred Swallow meets a blue-eyed roan stallion. The horse’s rare Medicine Hat markings show that he has special powers, making him sacred to Lakota people; Alfred believes the horse may even be descended from Chief Sitting Bull’s own herd. As the horse and boy eye one another, a tornado touches down and lifts them into its funnel. When they are set on the ground, Alfred is shaken but unharmed. He rescues the frightened stallion from a wire fence, and a bond is forged between them. The story unfolds with Alfred training the roan for the annual White River Frontier Days’ relay race. He hopes to win the purse and buy his grandfather a much-needed tractor for the family farm, but there isn’t much time to prepare. A side story involving the untrustworthy nephew of Alfred’s rancher employer ramps up the tension. When robbery and horse-rustling plans are discovered, Alfred and two of his friends overpower six armed men. Following the success of this takedown, the boys head off to the race. Beartrack-Algeo (Lower Brule Lakota Nation) incorporates interesting details about rural South Dakota and the training of wild stallions into the story, but the quantity and delivery of the information at times impede the narrative flow.
An accessible novel for reluctant readers that highlights Lakota lives. (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-939053-48-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: 7th Generation
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
PROFILES
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage.
Adrian, the youngest of the Montague siblings, sails into tumultuous waters in search of answers about himself, the sudden death of his mother, and her mysterious, cracked spyglass.
On the summer solstice less than a year ago, Caroline Montague fell off a cliff in Aberdeen into the sea. When the Scottish hostel where she was staying sends a box of her left-behind belongings to London, Adrian—an anxious, White nobleman on the cusp of joining Parliament—discovers one of his mother’s most treasured possessions, an antique spyglass. She acquired it when she was the sole survivor of a shipwreck many years earlier. His mother always carried that spyglass with her, but on the day of her death, she had left it behind in her room. Although he never knew its full significance, Adrian is haunted by new questions and is certain the spyglass will lead him to the truth. Once again, Lee crafts an absorbing adventure with dangerous stakes, dynamic character growth, sharp social and political commentary, and a storm of emotion. Inseparable from his external search for answers about his mother, Adrian seeks a solution for himself, an end to his struggle with mental illness—a journey handled with hopeful, gentle honesty that validates the experiences of both good and bad days. Characters from the first two books play significant secondary roles, and the resolution ties up their loose ends. Humorous antics provide a well-measured balance with the heavier themes.
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-291601-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
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