Despite its limitations, this well-meaning book may help to inculcate social awareness in the children who read it.
A photo essay with supplementary illustrations introduces readers to eight children who live on the streets in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Guatemala.
Chippo, a 9-year-old from Zimbabwe, runs away from a house where she is enslaved. Miguel in Mozambique, age 13, spends some time on the city streets and some in a town with his older brother. A Guatemalan street family’s story is more hopeful. Their mother has found a way to earn money and has rented an apartment. In his introduction, the author delineates among these examples and others: children who live on their own on the streets, children who work on the streets (yet may spend some time with their families) and children who are part of street families. Robinson has photographed young people in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Guatemala with the help of local organizations. Their websites are included opposite the title page, but there is no bibliography or other notes, save for a world map and chart with 2004-2008 figures supplied by UNICEF. Amateurish sketches illustrate the first-person texts, but they detract from the book’s power rather than enhance the reality. The speech balloons that introduce each child are distracting. This important topic would better be explored in greater detail in a format more appropriate for older readers and with greater geographical representation.
Despite its limitations, this well-meaning book may help to inculcate social awareness in the children who read it. (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-84780-434-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
Artie’s first day at Ardmore Middle School starts off badly: Before he even leaves the house he’s fallen out of bed, zapped...
A preteen horror take on Groundhog Day.
Artie’s first day at Ardmore Middle School starts off badly: Before he even leaves the house he’s fallen out of bed, zapped himself plugging in the cellphone charger and been squirted with syrup by his little brother. It gets so radically worse that by the afternoon he’s received the dismaying news that a gang has been dispatched to beat him up on the way home at the Principal’s request. Before that can happen, to his astonishment, he’s suddenly waking up in bed. Was it a dream? Hard to say, because again he falls out of bed, zaps himself, gets squirted and goes on to another first day that is nearly the same but even more disastrous. And then again. Each round gets shorter but weirder as Artie’s struggles to head off catastrophes he knows are coming lead to bizarre accidents, wild chases, scary discoveries in the school’s dank, dark basement and, at last, a truly memorable encounter with an oversized custodian who disintegrates into a pack of weasels. After that, it’s almost a letdown when Stine explains Artie’s misadventures with a logical and obvious revelation.Pub Date: July 19, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-64954-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
While the concluding author’s note provides explication of some of these elements, some readers may not stick it out.
In Marsden’s latest tale of cross-cultural friendship, a modern Mayan girl fights to protect her rural Mexican village from encroaching development.
Nine-year-old Rosalba Nicho lives a peaceful life with her parents and siblings in San Martín. Everything changes when she becomes friends with 8-year-old Alicia, a light-haired, green-eyed ladina from Mexico City. Camping nearby while her father works to preserve the local frog population, Alicia dominates most conversations and the friendship in general, establishing a problematic colonizer motif that runs throughout the novel. Soon, government workers inexplicability start bulldozing a road to San Martín, and more frogs begin to die. The author intersperses these third-person chapters with a mystical first-person narrative, following the life of a young male seer named Xunko in 600 C.E. The two narratives finally connect when Xunko begins visiting Rosalba’s dreams, showing her ways to save her village. Unfortunately, with the exception of Rosalba and Xunko, most of the Mayan characters appear petty, ignorant and/or violent. The importance of Mayan weaving and the use of the Popol Vuh add authenticity, yet the intended audience may be overwhelmed by the dual narratives, the environmental aspects, brief references to the Zapatistas and the (unfortunate) inclusion of the Mayan 2012 "apocalypse" prophecy.
While the concluding author’s note provides explication of some of these elements, some readers may not stick it out. (Spanish/Mayan glossary) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4820-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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