There are many exciting moments in the battle against Nian, but interjections and details inserted for convenience–though...
An evil, long-dead dragon returns to life in a Chinese restaurant on Topsail Island, N.C., in the first installment of a projected fantasy trilogy.
Furious dragon fire and ancient myth set up what promises to be a roaring adventure when a young boy named Bei defeats Nian the dragon in China, 4000 B.C. Fast-forward to the year 2000, when Nian’s Chinese Buffet is having its grand opening on Topsail Island. Topsail has few good places to eat, so everyone lines up to try the new fare, including 12-year-old Doug. When the residents find out that the fortunes in the cookies actually come true, they really clamor to get in. Doug and his friends suspect something is amiss, but are unable to stop their families from going to the restaurant in search of good luck. Unfortunately, Doug turns out to be right. Stereotypically portrayed Chinese waitstaff capitalize on greed to lure people to the restaurant. There, the dragon waits to steal customers’ souls in order to stage its horrific return. Meanwhile, a second storyline features a young Chinese girl named Hong, who learns she is the descendant of Bei the dragon-slayer and that the birthmark below her ribcage is the harbinger of Nian’s return. She must leave China to find and kill the dragon once more, saving the world from ultimate destruction. Effusively metaphoric narrative strains and descriptive chapters flip back and forth from Doug’s perspective to Hong’s, causing some time-line confusion, until the children meet to destroy the dragon and save the people of Topsail.
There are many exciting moments in the battle against Nian, but interjections and details inserted for convenience–though she has carefully prepared for her quest, Hong forgets that dragons can fly–keep this fantasy outside the realm of believability.Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-595-46153-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In this riveting futuristic novel, Spaz, a teenage boy with epilepsy, makes a dangerous journey in the company of an old man and a young boy. The old man, Ryter, one of the few people remaining who can read and write, has dedicated his life to recording stories. Ryter feels a kinship with Spaz, who unlike his contemporaries has a strong memory; because of his epilepsy, Spaz cannot use the mind probes that deliver entertainment straight to the brain and rot it in the process. Nearly everyone around him uses probes to escape their life of ruin and poverty, the result of an earthquake that devastated the world decades earlier. Only the “proovs,” genetically improved people, have grass, trees, and blue skies in their aptly named Eden, inaccessible to the “normals” in the Urb. When Spaz sets out to reach his dying younger sister, he and his companions must cross three treacherous zones ruled by powerful bosses. Moving from one peril to the next, they survive only with help from a proov woman. Enriched by Ryter’s allusions to nearly lost literature and full of intriguing, invented slang, the skillful writing paints two pictures of what the world could look like in the future—the burned-out Urb and the pristine Eden—then shows the limits and strengths of each. Philbrick, author of Freak the Mighty (1993) has again created a compelling set of characters that engage the reader with their courage and kindness in a painful world that offers hope, if no happy endings. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-08758-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
Hillenbrand takes license with the familiar song (the traditional words and music are reproduced at the end) to tell an enchanting story about baby animals picked up by the train and delivered to the children’s zoo. The full-color drawings are transportingly jolly, while the catchy refrain—“See the engine driver pull his little lever”—is certain to delight readers. Once the baby elephant, flamingo, panda, tiger, seal, and kangaroo are taken to the zoo by the train, the children—representing various ethnic backgrounds, and showing one small girl in a wheelchair—arrive. This is a happy book, filled with childhood exuberance. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201804-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
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