Complications abound in a graphic novel related in brief narrative boxes plus dialogue (some of it in both Spanish and English) in hundreds of b&w comic-book frames. Sarah has been told (falsely) that her mother died; Carlos can't understand why an old blind man is so interested in a subway token he's found. The two kids team up and eventually learn the truth: the evil Mr. Underton was blinded by Sarah's mother 11 years ago when he tried to steal the token that's the source of power for the metropolis (N.Y.C.), which will freeze if the token isn't delivered to safekeeping each December 21 by Sarah's mother (and, someday, by Sarah). With neat feats of derring-do but uncharacteristically lumpy plotting and motives (Stubbs hides from his wife for 11 years, fearing she'll hate him—to keep her love, he leaves her?), this isn't quite fish or fowl. Still, robust spirits run appealingly amok until the expected triumph of good. Author (and publisher) get high marks for experimenting with a new genre, though this may not be the book to make it fashionable. A bold venture that will probably entertain the young more than their elders. (Fiction. 10+)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-531-06800-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1993
Colt, who has spina bifida, is introduced to riding in a special program for handicapped children. Reluctant at first, he soon learns that being on a horse not only strengthens his muscles but empowers him with new independence and courage, a better route to self-identity than his former brattiness. Meanwhile, his mother Audrey marries Brad, a gentle, sympathetic man with a teenage son (``Rosie'') and a daughter Colt's age. What would normally be a minor incident—Colt's mount jolts him when he starts to trot—is life-threatening for Colt, and Audrey reluctantly decides that the riding must stop. Colt becomes despondent, but then Brad comes up with an especially safe mount and the family agrees that, as Colt has pleaded, the rewards of his riding are worth the risks. Indeed—in a satisfying scene dramatizing how Colt can overcome his limitations, he rescues his stepbrother when the two are alone together and Rosie is injured. The plot here is familiar, the details concerning spina bifida obviously purposive. But Springer's characters, striving to create a loving new family, come alive as exceptionally warm, nice people who try to solve their unavoidable problems without dissipating emotional energy in rivalries or self-pity. Sweet but not saccharine: a satisfying horse story with fine extra dimensions. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-8037-1022-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The illustrator of Esbensen's Tiger with Wings (1991) looks affectionately at 21 of her favorite shore- and water-birds—blue heron, osprey, white ibis, roseate spoonbill, purple gallinule, limpkin, etc.—focusing on appearance, diet, courtship, nesting, and raising young, with occasional mention of range, migration patterns, or size. Brown stresses protecting the habitat of these elegant, often endangered birds. Her precise, slightly stylized paintings, some spanning two pages, often show the birds at their most dramatic in courtship plumage. Perspective or framing is occasionally awkward (e.g., an outsize baby coot is superimposed on an adult), but, still this is a beautiful browsing book of special interest to those along the coast from Maryland to Florida. Further reading; index. (Nonfiction. 10+)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-531-05981-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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