Clements serves up a touching, realistic portrait of a shy high-school girl trapped between dueling parents. Erika insists she wants to live with her mother, instead of her too-busy father who loves her but seems to neglect her. Yet Erika’s mother could care less about her daughter, wanting her only for housework. No one but Erika’s court-appointed lawyer seems to care that Erika is struggling to succeed in school and with the intense demands of the leading role in a play. Clements trusts his readers to discern Erika’s true situation, simply by presenting the characters in her life through short scenes. He sometimes shifts the point of view to Jean, the lawyer, for a mature overview of the situation. The result shines through as the portrait of a real girl emerging from a life controlled by others into the beginnings of a life of her own. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2005
ISBN: 0-374-32304-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
It's hard to ask for more than this: an old-fashioned story that starts with an orphan, includes a mystery, and ends happily. In 1867 Germany, young Boniface Schroll is taken away from his aunt, who has been deemed incompetent to raise a boy, and sent to live with his uncle, a well-to-do mayor in the far off village of Graab. At first, Boniface's uncle seems to be a cold and orderly man of the law, and Boniface isn't sure he belongs under his care. He chronicles his adjustment to his uncle and the village community through an amiable, perceptive narrative. Boniface experiences some of the pitfalls of the provincial life through his secret friendship with an outsider, Christian Knapp, the son of a notorious robber; the Robber Knapp is a wrongfully persecuted man, and Boniface holds the key to his innocence. When Boniface shows his brave and upstanding character, his uncle makes a believable turn as a father figure. This is a sophisticated read, for those who like to escape to times past and lands far away, with a translator's note to provide context. (glossary) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8050-5599-1
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997
Martin comes home from school one day only to fall captive to a man he’s never seen before. After being forced to write a ransom note for his mother, he is bound, carried off to a houseboat moored on a nearby canal, and locked in. When Martin questions his captor, he is told that Martin’s father has won the lottery and the kidnapper, called “The Man,” wants a share. In horror, Martin recognizes The Man’s accomplice—and girlfriend—in the plot. It’s Martin’s own mother, in the first of several plot twists that range from silly to sublime. Martin’s father claims there is no money, and The Man plans further threats; in the meantime, Martin squirms out a window on the boat and gets to shore, only to bump into the kidnapper’s daughter, Hannah. Hannah, for reasons known only to the author, leads Martin through a long chase that eventually takes them back to the boat, which explodes, ending the game. Readers who have suspended all disbelief will still be surprised that all ends well, as the members of both families forgive everyone else and get on with their lives. That a boy’s own mother is behind his kidnapping is the high concept that keeps this farfetched plot afloat. Teenagers who doubt their value in their own families will find the satire rejuvenating, while the preposterous plot twists and special effects seem ideal for the silver screen. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: April 15, 1998
ISBN: 0-8234-1363-2
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
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