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SECRET IN ST. SOMETHING

Name: SECRET IN ST. SOMETHING
Author: Barbara Brooks Wallace
ISBN: 0-689-83464-0

by Barbara Brooks Wallace ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2001

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Positively Dickensian in its melodramatic twists and turns, but not in its length, Wallace’s (Ghosts in the Gallery, 2000, etc.) latest page-turner grabs and holds attention. Robin, a slight nine, fears and dreads his stepfather, who beats him and sends him out to collect rents from the miserable New York City tenements they inhabit. When the drunk and loutish Doaks threatens Robin’s baby brother Danny, however, Robin screws up his courage and takes all their clothing, as much milk as he can carry, and a locket from Doaks’s stash of pilfered goods and he runs away with Danny. But what to do? He already knows the taverns, workhouses, and alleys are no place for himself, let alone a baby. Creeping into a church cellar, he finds as neat a pack of lost boys as ever populated a story. Spider, Duck, Piggy, and Mouse, who survive by their wits and shoe-shining, take Robin into their band, teach him their trade, and leave the crippled Piggy as babysitter. Robin in turn begins to teach them to sew (which he learned from his mama) and to read. But Doaks hasn’t given up on finding Robin, and Robin doesn’t feel at all safe or sure. A thrilling dénouement involves deathbed confessions, that purloined locket, and an incredibly joyous ending for Robin and the boys. (Fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: June 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-689-83464-0

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S MYSTERY & THRILLER | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
MISS SWITCH ONLINE
by Barbara Brooks Wallace

- BOOK REVIEW
GHOSTS IN THE GALLERY
by Barbara Brooks Wallace

- BOOK REVIEW
SPARROWS IN THE SCULLERY
by Barbara Brooks Wallace

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THE SEVENTH MOST IMPORTANT THING

by Shelley Pearsall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2015

Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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Traumatized by his father’s recent death, a boy throws a brick at an old man who collects junk in his neighborhood and winds up on probation working for him.

Pearsall bases the book on a famed real work of folk art, the Throne of the Third Heaven, by James Hampton, a janitor who built his work in a garage in Washington, D.C., from bits of light bulbs, foil, mirrors, wood, bottles, coffee cans, and cardboard—the titular seven most important things. In late 1963, 13-year-old Arthur finds himself looking for junk for Mr. Hampton, who needs help with his artistic masterpiece, begun during World War II. The book focuses on redemption rather than art, as Hampton forgives the fictional Arthur for his crime, getting the boy to participate in his work at first reluctantly, later with love. Arthur struggles with his anger over his father’s death and his mother’s new boyfriend. Readers watch as Arthur transfers much of his love for his father to Mr. Hampton and accepts responsibility for saving the art when it becomes endangered. Written in a homespun style that reflects the simple components of the artwork, the story guides readers along with Arthur to an understanding of the most important things in life.

Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)