Myers (Ethan Between Us, 1998, etc.) takes on WWII and the folks on the Oklahoma home front. Gail knows that everything has changed when the telegram arrives stating that her father is missing in action. Although everyone in their small town, including Gail’s grandmother and her blind and bitter Uncle Ned, believe that her father is dead, Gail and her mother refuse to give up hope. Christmas is coming, and Gail wants her twin younger siblings to hope, too. Alternating with Gail’s story at home is the story of a navigator and a gunner who survive the crash of their plane. The gunner drags the navigator to safety where they are protected by French members of the Resistance; the navigator dies, while the gunner makes his way at last to England. Meanwhile, Gail learns more about her family, and how Ned’s blindness and his wife’s leaving have twisted him; he even attacks Captain, Gail’s golden retriever. The story doesn’t have the natural flow of some of Myers’s other novels; the reconciliations are mechanical (and plentiful), while the plot twists are rather heavyhanded: Christmas revelations, rescues, kindnesses, and sorrows. Despite such tampering, what remains vivid is the girl, her dog, and life on the home front, when the war came over the radio. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8027-8706-1
Page Count: 134
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
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
Ramona returns (Ramona Forever, 1988, etc.), and she’s as feisty as ever, now nine-going-on-ten (or “zeroteen,” as she calls it). Her older sister Beezus is in high school, baby-sitting, getting her ears pierced, and going to her first dance, and now they have a younger baby sister, Roberta. Cleary picks up on all the details of fourth grade, from comparing hand calluses to the distribution of little plastic combs by the school photographer. This year Ramona is trying to improve her spelling, and Cleary is especially deft at limning the emotional nuances as Ramona fails and succeeds, goes from sad to happy, and from hurt to proud. The grand finale is Ramona’s birthday party in the park, complete with a cake frosted in whipped cream. Despite a brief mention of nose piercing, Cleary’s writing still reflects a secure middle-class family and untroubled school life, untouched by the classroom violence or the broken families of the 1990s. While her book doesn’t match what’s in the newspapers, it’s a timeless, serene alternative for children, especially those with less than happy realities. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 25, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-16816-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
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