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THE DEVIL AND HIS BOY

Name: THE DEVIL AND HIS BOY
Author: Anthony Horowitz
ISBN: 0-399-23432-2

by Anthony Horowitz ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2000

This unique blend of fact-based characters and inspired storytelling will appeal especially to readers who enjoy an...

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Short, action-packed chapters convincingly portray the sights, smells, and sounds of lower-class Elizabethan England in 1593.

Rescued from servitude and on the run from the cutthroat Gamaliel Ratsey, young Tom finds himself adrift in the bustling and dangerous city of London. Befriended by expert pickpocket Moll Cutpurse, he lands a job as an apprentice actor with a troop of mysterious men who have been hired to perform a comedy for the queen. Increasingly suspicious of his fellow actors, Tom risks his own life to save that of the aging queen, resulting in an astonishing discovery for them both. Sinister criminals, good-hearted ne'er-do-wells, and Shakespeare himself are all described with sly touches of whimsy that adds to the story's appeal.

This unique blend of fact-based characters and inspired storytelling will appeal especially to readers who enjoy an imaginative, no-holds-barred approach to historical fiction. (Fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: March 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-399-23432-2

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
NEVER SAY DIE
by Anthony Horowitz

- BOOK REVIEW
SCORPIA
by Anthony Horowitz & Antony Johnston ; illustrated by Emma Vieceli & Kate Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
BLOODY HOROWITZ
by Anthony Horowitz

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THE BABE AND I

by David A. Adler ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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Adler (also with Widener, Lou Gehrig, 1997, etc.) sets his fictional story during the week of July 14, 1932, in the Bronx, when the news items that figure in this tale happened. A boy gets a dime for his birthday, instead of the bicycle he longs for, because it is the Great Depression, and everyone who lives in his neighborhood is poor. While helping his friend Jacob sell newspapers, he discovers that his own father, who leaves the house with a briefcase each day, is selling apples on Webster Avenue along with the other unemployed folk. Jacob takes the narrator to Yankee Stadium with the papers, and people don’t want to hear about the Coney Island fire or the boy who stole so he could get something to eat in jail. They want to hear about Babe Ruth and his 25th homer. As days pass, the narrator keeps selling papers, until the astonishing day when Ruth himself buys a paper from the boy with a five-dollar bill and tells him to keep the change. The acrylic paintings bask in the glow of a storied time, where even row houses and the elevated train have a warm, solid presence. The stadium and Webster Avenue are monuments of memory rather than reality in a style that echoes Thomas Hart Benton’s strong color and exaggerated figures. (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-15-201378-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF GRAVITY
by David A. Adler ; illustrated by Anna Raff

- BOOK REVIEW
THE METRIC SYSTEM
by David A. Adler ; illustrated by Edward Miller

- BOOK REVIEW
A PARADE FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON
by David A. Adler ; illustrated by John O’Brien

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TURTLE CLAN JOURNEY

by Lynda Durrant ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 1999

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More action-oriented and less psychologically penetrating than Echohawk (1996), this historically intriguing but dramatically uneven sequel once again puts the protagonist between a rock and a hard place. Echohawk, captured by Mohicans when he was only four, has the face and body of a European colonist, but the mind and heart of a Mohican warrior. Now 13, Echohawk, his Mohican father, Glickihigan, and small brother, Bamaineo, must travel west through hostile Mohawk terrain in order to relocate near the Ohio River. Making their journey more risky is the substantial ransom the governor of New York is offering for the recapture and return of any white settler “taken captive” by native peoples. After a protracted set-up, the plot finally begins to bubble when Echohawk is ambushed by soldiers and sent to live with his biological aunt. There Durrant demonstrates what she does best, sympathetically balancing the differences between Mohican and colonial attitudes. Although that part of the book gets short shrift, and the rest of the story is dedicated to modest adventure as Echohawk and his family make their ways to safety, this is an enjoyable read enlivened by the author’s facility for establishing a fine sense of time and place. (Fiction. 10-14)