Her little brother Josh has been burned in an accident, and Hallie is deeply troubled. She misses her parents, mostly at the hospital with Josh; she feels excluded (she's not quite 12, so can't join them) and suffers guilt because, frozen with horror, she watched while others rushed to Josh's aid. She's sure that if she can be with Josh it will help him—a sound hope since the two, who live on a small Maine island, are unusually close. Grieving, Hallie goes out in a neighbor's dinghy (she is implausibly inept at rowing), nearly drowns, but is saved by a whale, Melae, whose singing she somehow understands. Melae too is trying to save one of her kind, the ailing Globo, an effort hampered by curious people flocking to the scene and by well- meaning experts and Coast Guard personnel who try to separate the whales in the mistaken belief that Globo will surely ground himself but that Melae, on her own, will be safe. Though the fantasy is a bit contrived, Melae (a sort of consoling, otherworldly godmother) is intriguing and the parallels nicely reinforce the theme; Hallie's ultimate success in helping Globo find his way back to Melae and in getting together with Josh make a satisfying conclusion. A strong sense of place, deftly drawn characters, and an undercurrent of tenderness to humans and cetacean add up to a fine second novel by the author of Alice Dodd and the Spirit of Truth (1993). (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-767730-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
In minutely detailed cross-sections, Kent traces the history of a generic European settlement from prehistoric times through the 21st century and beyond, to a speculative, pastoral distant future. It’s all about layers; the pits and rubbish of Old Stone Age hunters are covered over with the turn of a page by a cluster of wooden Iron Age houses that are succeeded first by Ancient Roman stone buildings, then successive generations of increasingly modern homes and businesses. Interspersed with occasional side trips to catacombs or an old mine, the town’s expansion into a city leaves the underlying layers jumbled but recognizable—even after ten millennia and humanity’s disappearance return the surface to its original grassland. Linked by a few sentences of general commentary, the cross-sections invite lingering scrutiny; urban readers will certainly come away wondering what treasures and clues to the past might be hidden beneath their own feet. An annotated list of archeology websites extends the experience. (Informational picture book. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6400-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Full-color action shots of whales cavorting enhance this introduction. Whale anatomy, whaling history, the current sport of whale watching, adopt-a-whale programs, and a typical class on a day aboard a commercial whale-watching boat are all briefly described. The children, sailing from Provincetown, spend most of their time screaming, laughing, and running from one side of the ship to the other; Waters admits that ``whale scientists are beginning to feel that watched whales are being disturbed by the boats that crowd their waters day after day.'' While his writing is trite, filled with ``oohing and aahing,'' the full-page photos and appealing topic will attract an audience. Includes addresses for adopt-a-whale programs, plus brief mention of west-coast and Canadian whale watching. Index. Nonfiction. 10-12)*justify no*
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-525-65072-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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