Some nearly threadbare tropes hold together this fast-paced mystery for middle schoolers, only fraying completely at the end. Will Shakespeare at 12 is irrepressible, full of words and perhaps a little ADHD. His foil is Tom, a member of a group of players, except that Tom is really Viola, living in disguise with her uncle’s troupe as her parents are in hiding for helping a Catholic priest escape the Crown. Tom/Viola’s uncle and his players come to Stratford-on-Avon, where he is almost immediately accused of murder when a local curmudgeon is bludgeoned to death with the uncle’s walking stick. Will, with the unwilling assistance of Tom/Viola, seeks to solve the crime, full of words and scheming and hijinks. The townsfolk spout lines that ring suspiciously familiar, a melodramatic plot twist involving the twin sons of the local curmudgeon ends in a drowning and suicide (offstage) and everyone seems to figure out that Tom is really Viola. Lively and quick, it may offer some small amusement to readers not quite ready for King of Shadows. (Historical fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: June 23, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-8660-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
From Harrell (How Thunder and Lightning Came to Be, 1995), a genuine adventure, made compelling by its veracity. When his family is forced by the US government to relocate from their ancestral home in Mississippi to Oklahoma, Minko Ushi and his father, along with Minko’s headstrong and independent pony, Black Spot, travel ahead of the rest of their people to prepare a home. Along the way, they encounter terrible winter storms, bureaucratic bungling, and racism, as well as occasional, unexpected kindness. Then they must build a house, prepare for planting, and help the survivors recover from the disastrous forced march. As a result of his journey, Minko earns the new name Longwalker. Based on stories from the author’s family, this is an exciting survival story. Minko is an appealingly stoic boy, charmingly captured in Meers’s black-and-white drawings. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-2380-6
Page Count: 133
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
Basing the book on true incidents and real people of the Revolutionary War, Kirkpatrick (Trouble’s Daughter, 1998, etc.) recreates the actions of a Patriot spies begun by Robert Townsend and assisted by strong-willed, cool-headed Nancy Strong in the little town of Setauket, New York; Nancy used her clothesline and petticoats to signal the location, spotted by her son, of a whaleboat that would transport a vital letter about British battle plans directly to General George Washington. The complete spy ring route, which carried crucial information from British-occupied New York City to Patriot-held Connecticut, is depicted in a colorful map at the conclusion of the book; the detailed historical notes that follow will intrigue those interested in learning about the strong men and women who were instrumental in changing the nation’s history. Himler’s splendid watercolor paintings illustrate the danger involved in trying to foil the Loyalists and the daily threat of exposure that was faced by the Setauket spies. (map, sources) (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: March 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1416-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
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