Troubled teen meets totemic catalyst in Mikaelsen’s (Petey, 1998, etc.) earnest tribute to Native American spirituality. Fifteen-year-old Cole is cocky, embittered, and eaten up by anger at his abusive parents. After repeated skirmishes with the law, he finally faces jail time when he viciously beats a classmate. Cole’s parole officer offers him an alternative—Circle Justice, an innovative justice program based on Native traditions. Sentenced to a year on an uninhabited Arctic island under the supervision of Edwin, a Tlingit elder, Cole provokes an attack from a titanic white “Spirit Bear” while attempting escape. Although permanently crippled by the near-death experience, he is somehow allowed yet another stint on the island. Through Edwin’s patient tutoring, Cole gradually masters his rage, but realizes that he needs to help his former victims to complete his own healing. Mikaelsen paints a realistic portrait of an unlikable young punk, and if Cole’s turnaround is dramatic, it is also convincingly painful and slow. Alas, the rest of the characters are cardboard caricatures: the brutal, drunk father, the compassionate, perceptive parole officer, and the stoic and cryptic Native mentor. Much of the plot stretches credulity, from Cole’s survival to his repeated chances at rehabilitation to his victim being permitted to share his exile. Nonetheless, teens drawn by the brutality of Cole’s adventures, and piqued by Mikaelsen’s rather muscular mysticism, might absorb valuable lessons on anger management and personal responsibility. As melodramatic and well-meaning as the teens it targets. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-380-97744-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
A flawed but hopeful tale about what children can achieve.
This middle-grade book follows the adventures of a girl from the far north whose ice raft drifts to New York City, where she learns about the plight of circus animals.
Haibu, 10, lives very far north in a tiny village. Her (fictional) Mayok people follow a lifestyle similar to the Inuit, which includes hunting with sled dogs, ice fishing, and avoiding polar bears, or “nanuq” (the Inuit word for polar bear). Haibu is impatient about restrictions on what girls can do in her society; she’d love to go fishing with her father and brother, for example, and isn’t scared of danger. The mantra that goes with her special bracelet has been passed down for generations: “I can do anything I believe I can do. I can be anything I believe I can be. I can achieve anything I want to achieve.” She decides to prove the mantra right and go ice fishing by herself. She catches some fish, meets a seal pup, and even learns that she can communicate with animals, but she runs into trouble when she confronts an angry polar bear. Then the ice floe beneath her breaks away and she’s sent drifting all the way to New York, where she finds refuge at an orphanage. In search of bears, Haibu finds a nearby circus, where the animals’ mistreatment galvanizes her; soon, she and the orphans mount a rescue mission. In this debut, Freeman and Price aim to educate children about “the global treatment of wild animals” and what they can do to help. The prose style is engaging and often funny, and the story may inspire kids to get involved. However, the characters’ remedy—breaking into circus cages—isn’t very practical, and scenes of animal cruelty may upset sensitive readers. The Mayok are also a problematic creation, appropriating details of traditional Inuit culture while adding elements like the Shookia bracelet, with its distinctly Western-sounding affirmations. Boros and Szikszai’s (Demon’s Dream, 1996) color illustrations are nicely detailed but cutesy, featuring middle-school-aged children with toddlerlike proportions; it’s also strange that Haibu, who’s indigenous to the Arctic, has blue eyes.
A flawed but hopeful tale about what children can achieve.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5132-6221-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Graphic Arts Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While readers unfamiliar with the Catholic faith may have trouble relating to a girl finding inspiration in St. Francis,...
Faith meets animal welfare in this short debut novel for young readers.
Somewhere along the Connecticut River, a small wood turtle is born. Through various interactions with thoughtless kids, the turtle migrates unwillingly to upstate New York, where young Jane Spencer finds him. His harrowing journey has left him with an injured leg, and Jane is determined to help him heal. After taking him to the local veterinarian, she does her research and discovers that her new friend, whom she calls Peg Leg, is part of an endangered species that only lives in Connecticut. She worries for his health and safety, especially since he is without the use of one of his legs. While growing close with Peg Leg and tending to his needs, she is taught in Sunday school about the saints, including St. Francis of Assisi, who is best known for his service to all animals. She feels an immediate kinship to St. Francis, whose stained-glass visage caught her attention before Mass, and her strong faith leads her to do the very best she can to help acclimate Peg Leg to walking, first without a leg and then with a small, specially made prosthetic. Jane spends all summer with Peg Leg, taking him for walks and on excursions with her friends or brother. She even keeps a daily journal, carefully detailing Peg Leg’s care and progress. Fitzpatrick’s timely, gentle story is punctuated with simple pen images by debut illustrator MacDonald. At first glance, this book appears to be a nonfiction account about caring for turtles, but it is actually an appealing fictional glimpse of a common occurrence: a child rehabilitating an injured animal in order for it to thrive once again in the wild. The connection to Roman Catholicism will be a surprise to unsuspecting readers, but the allusions to St. Francis make sense within the context of this touching ecological tale.
While readers unfamiliar with the Catholic faith may have trouble relating to a girl finding inspiration in St. Francis, this sweet turtle tale delivers an important environmental lesson.Pub Date: June 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5246-9480-7
Page Count: 96
Publisher: IdeoPage Press Solutions LLC
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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