Disconnected plot elements give this quirky tale from Doyle (Spud Sweetgrass, 1996, etc.) a superficial, slapdash air. Fleeing his abusive father, Mickey washes up at his uncle's farm outside a small Quebec town, where, due to some kindness, he loses his intense fear and penchant for bedwetting. Later his battered mother appears, too, with his father hard on her heels; she and Ronald drive him off, but in his rush to get away he falls beneath a passing train. Meanwhile, the town is engaged in a localized tax revolt, playing a variety of amusing pranks on a hapless squad of assessors. Doyle's anile brand of humor—Mickey's account of what happens when he tries to keep his bed dry by attaching a hose to himself will have some readers wincing, and after the tax collectors' wagon wheels are loosened, ``policemen's nuts'' becomes a running joke—trivializes the story's serious themes, although the serious ultimately weighs down the farcical. Framing the whole episode as a flashback narrated by Mickey at age 112 adds a faintly grotesque, pointless twist. Unlike Spud, this Doyle's a dud. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-88899-266-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A memorable, edge-of-the-seat escapade that will enthrall confirmed fans and newbies alike.
The penultimate episode in this well-crafted series pits apprentice wizard Septimus and allies against a relentless tide of Things bent on overwhelming the Magyk that protects the town of Castle and establishing a penumbral Darke Domaine.
Their 14th birthdays become more battles for survival than celebrations for Sep and Princess Jenna when she is captured by the powerful Port Witch Coven. His planned visit to the deadly subterranean Darke Halls takes on special urgency after the Darke finds an opening in the palace and begins pouring out in a deadly tide through the streets. As usual, not only is the cast, particularly the large and tumultuous Heap family, sharply drawn both in the tale and in Zug’s finely detailed character studies at the chapter heads, but the danger and the spellcasting alike seem vividly real and credible. Lightening the load with humorous byplay and tucking in plenty of ghosts, strong-willed characters, deft literary references—a character named Bertie Bott, a house on There And Back Again Row—and a particularly exciting dragon battle, Sage expertly weaves multiple new and continuing plotlines together. An appendix ties up what loose ends it can while leaving the door open for the conclusion.
A memorable, edge-of-the-seat escapade that will enthrall confirmed fans and newbies alike. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-124242-7
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
A strange and entertaining affirmation of the parent-child bond.
From Spain, a son’s affectionate tribute to his wandering, heavily decorated, yarnspinning father.
Recalled as the not-quite-adult-sounding narrator remembers them, “all tangled up, like a ball of wool that someone has dropped,” his often-absent father’s rousing if unlikely tales are backed up, or at least inspired by head-to-toe tattoos. They feature death-defying encounters with a double-tailed tiger and a giant bird, a conversation with a huge spider and remarkable feats like catching in midair both the lad himself, who as a baby once flew out a window as the car rounded a bend, and also a crazed trick-shooter’s bullet. Alternating tattoo-style vignettes of animals, hearts, skulls and the like framed in baroque flourishes with wildly fanciful full-page cartoons, pop surrealist Magicomora provides urbane visual counterparts to the stories’ increasingly freewheeling flights. “When I was little,” concludes the narrator, “I thought Dad was in charge of hanging the moon in the sky. Not I know that’s not true. But sometimes, on nights when he’s out there, he does hang up a star. That one, for example.”
A strange and entertaining affirmation of the parent-child bond. (Picture book. 10-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55498-109-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 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.
