The breezy discussion of an unusual, appealing hobby keeps this problem novel from becoming overbearingly message-driven.
This short chapter book tackles common, but intimidating, childhood problems, such as bullies, divorce, step-parents and alcoholic parents.
Twelve-year old Ian shares the hobby of pigeon racing with his newly remarried dad, but he’s also entranced by Ollie, the falcon owned by the family of his new step-cousin, Chad. When Ollie kills Ian’s champion pigeon, Ian and his dad acquire a new racing pigeon with a prestigious pedigree. But the bird has a bad habit that prevents it from racing (flying on to the roof of the house, instead of into the coop), so the boys decide to use Ollie to frighten the pigeon into behaving properly before the big race. Ian relies on his Dad’s judgment, while learning that his new stepmother is actually pretty cool, and that his bully cousin Chad, who has to deal with his drunken father, has his own vulnerabilities. While the author doesn’t gloss over the danger, aside from the original pigeon’s death, all ends well. Although Natural Instinct resembles a beginning chapter book in length, Bechler sets her prose at a fairly advanced level, which will make it appealing to older readers. Hart’s fuzzy charcoal drawings provide a subtle enhancement to the story.
The breezy discussion of an unusual, appealing hobby keeps this problem novel from becoming overbearingly message-driven. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: July 13, 2005
ISBN: 0-595-34355-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
UNDER THE LEGISLATURE OF STARS62 New Hampshire PoetsAgran, Rick; Hildred Crill & Mark DeCarteret—Eds.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-882291-55-X
Page Count: 120
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
A year in the life of a Baltimore boy provides the basis for a formidable portrait of urban American life. Eleven-year-old Sam Webber, usually known as Little Sam, abruptly becomes just plain Samuel when his father disappears without a trace. Hoping he was kidnaped (abandonment is the far more devastating, though likely, explanation), Sam is traumatized further by the move his mother’s forced to make from their pristine middle-class neighborhood to a rough area of town. A closet in their new home becomes the TV room, and Sam watches rain pour in through a leaky kitchen window. Completing the transformation of Sam’s old life to new is his attendance at an unfamiliar school full of bullies, pregnant teens, and, miraculously, Greely. A black janitor at the school, Greely notices Sam’s distress—the constant hyperventilation, the nausea, his obvious fears—and befriends the boy in a way that alters him profoundly. Greely tells Sam about the civil rights movement, tosses a football with him, takes him to the Little Tavern for burgers—in short, becomes a surrogate father. Others slowly fill the shoes Sam’s father left empty: His mother’s new boyfriend Howard, sharing comic books and companionship; and Junie and Ditch, his mother’s employers at the flower shop. In Sam’s second Baltimore, a skinned, gritty version of what he once knew, he comes into his own, no longer afraid of dirty streets or gangs of kids and slowly accepting the loss of his father as he learns to depend more on himself. Although his father never returns, others love and nurture Little Sam, leading to the emergence of a Sam who is less troubled. A warming exploration of fairly routine material, made attractive by newcomer Fuqua’s depiction of city life. (Author tour)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-890862-02-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
