A first novel contrived around the credulous inhabitants of a medieval village battling an imaginary dragon that represents their own fears; unfortunately, Ellis's style and plotting are not skillful enough to realize her theme's potential. Protagonist Kate, 13, has unusual hopes: interested in healing, she'd like to be apprenticed to the apothecary and to learn to read. These ambitions are interrupted by rumors of a dragon in the dreaded forest; greedy treasure-seekers, the normally rational, and the gullible are all caught up in the furor and set out to battle what is really a series of violent thunderstorms and consequent fires. Kate sneaks along, taking some ``magic'' unicorn horn powder that, hurled at the crucial moment in the battle, ``causes'' a downpour that puts the fire out. There follows a misty, dreamlike vision of a unicorn, confirming everyone's belief that Kate has performed heroically. Though the story moves along smoothly, it has a generic quality: no particular time or place, stock characters, predictable images. Most disappointing, the potent symbol of the dragon isn't really explored; a wise old herb woman tells Kate that sometime in the future people may ``no longer be in terror of dragons. Then they can struggle against other evils.'' But what those are, or why fighting the imaginary dragon is itself an evil, is never suggested. Acceptable as undemanding fare. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-8050-1713-5
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
A brisk but thorough and informative history of the Lakota (Teton Sioux), with a glance at the present: How they got to the Great Plains, life before and after the advent of horses, and various ceremonies (though the deep religious motivation characteristic of these people is not conveyed). A brief detailing of struggles with white men includes the greats: Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Big Foot. There's also a quick look at the massacre at Wounded Knee and at the Ghost Dance (its universal appeal and hysteria are explained only by saying that it ``renewed the hopes of many Native Americans''). Wolfson explains that half the Teton Sioux are now on reservations and that life ``can be hard,'' but that old ceremonies are still maintained despite modern ways. The legend of White Buffalo Woman is included as a last chapter. Illustrations range from garishly tinted engravings to photos of crafts and of chiefs; only two depict the present. List of important dates; glossary; excellent bibliography and index. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1993
ISBN: 1-56294-077-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
From the demon cat said to stalk the U.S. Capitol building's ``confusing tangle of...winding passageways'' to the swarming ``rats of the Rhine,'' who take terrible vengeance on a man who ordered a peasant massacre, Cohen presents an array of animals who die but refuse to rest, or appear from nowhere only to vanish mysteriously. As always, his reports are drawn from folklore (``King of the Cats''), accounts of psychic investigators, newspaper articles (the Nottingham lion, the recent Chicago kangaroo), or regional ghost story compilations; he relates them calmly, and in an evenhanded manner. Cohen doesn't include source notes; nor does he claim that everything here can be substantiated—but if readers ``happen to believe the story while...reading it, so much the better.'' (Nonfiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: June 18, 1991
ISBN: 0-399-22230-8
Page Count: 111
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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