A lovely import with an unusual setting.
In 1912 Dublin, 14-year-old Mollie Carberry becomes an unexpected suffragist.
At first she sneaks out after her older sister, Phyllis, only out of curiosity, but when Phyllis ends up at a suffrage meeting, Mollie stays to listen and is impressed. Denying votes to women, Mollie decides, is just as unfair as her brother’s getting the best bits of their Sunday roast chicken, which maddens her. Along with her best school friend, Nora, Mollie attempts to balance participating in the suffrage movement with keeping out of trouble with her parents, her more conservative classmates, her teachers, and, heaven forbid, the police. Irish author Carey (not to be confused with the American novelist for teens of the same name) presents a gentle and readable account of Mollie’s activism and a charming picture of Dublin life at the time. Not only are all the characters white, they’re all Catholic, and many of them are related to each other. The story unfolds as a series of letters Mollie writes to her friend Frances, away at boarding school; her voice is reminiscent of another historic heroine, Anne of Green Gables, only with an Irish lilt. The plot is realistic and satisfying. Mollie and Nora don’t achieve greatness, but in the end they know they’ve made a contribution to a worthwhile cause.
A lovely import with an unusual setting. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-84717-847-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dufour
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
Continuing the saga begun in Nobody’s Princess (2007), a fictional Helen (of Homeric fame) goes on the quest for the Golden Fleece with Jason and the Argonauts, disguised initially as a weapons carrier. When her gender is discovered, she pretends instead to be Atalanta, the famous huntress. Events proceed as in the myth (the Isle of Lemnos, the Harpies, Medea, etc.), though this version is purposefully mundane. As in the first book, Helen is a spunky tomboy who just wants to be herself, a thoroughly modern character borne of the reading public’s current fascination with Greek mythology and the Princess Diaries phenomenon. The story lacks narrative tension or character development, as Friesner simply overlays this conceit upon set events which seem to unfold as if preordained, never taking the reader anywhere beyond this rather limited exposé of certain Greek myths. This is certainly not the last in the series, which will have its fans. Anyone needing another strong-female-character-with-a-sword series will enjoy it, but it is only mildly accomplished and strongly forgettable. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: April 22, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-375-87531-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
Set in an alternative feudal-ish Japan, this is the story of five kids with severe disabilities or disfigurements who have been accepted for training in a school for samurai. The unusual Cockroach Ryu is directed by the elderly, highly respected (and amusingly crotchety) samurai Ki-Yaga. Ki-Yaga and his equally cranky horse, Uma, are distinct as characters and add much to the book—humor, tactics and the use of pudding as a tool for success. The plot starts unusually slowly, limiting tension, suspense and probably audience, since adventure fans expect lashings of the first two qualities from the start. And the five students in this book are identified primarily by their disabilities (blindness, one leg, one arm, having six fingers, fear of fighting) for the first third of the story. This disappointingly reductive technique results in unclear characterization; by the time additional and critical back story is provided, many readers will have given up. Given these flaws, it is doubtful that most kids will stay with the book long enough to become engaged with story or characters. (Adventure. 11-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4503-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2010
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