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BILL

Name: BILL
Author: Chap Reaver
ISBN: 0-385-31175-3

by Chap Reaver ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1994

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From the late author of Mote (1990) and A Little Bit Dead (1992; both Edgar winners), an endearing story that, despite its compelling climax and some pleasingly melodramatic features, is markedly less violent than its predecessors. Jess, 13, is left in charge of the garden and milking while her dad makes moonshine or binges on safer store-bought booze. Her best friend is Bill, a clever mixed-breed dog whose eloquent mannerisms, as Reaver laconically verbalizes them, are one of his novel's particular charms. Friendly revenuer ``Wrong Man'' (so-called because a hapless moonshiner once made the mistake of selling him his wares) is tracking Dad by fair means and also by trickery that Jess considers foul. He's also reaching out, with some delicacy, to Jess; his offer of a home and a chance to go to school is even more appealing after Jess meets his sensible ``first [and only] wife'' Nell, with whom Jess establishes an immediate bond. Still, she's loyal: She follows her dad's orders, manages in his absence, warns him when he's followed, visits him in prison, and even makes the best of his homecoming—despite the fact that he's blabbed about a treasure she's discovered, an indiscretion that has led to a horrendous encounter in which Bill was desperately wounded. The dog's touching recovery months later may stretch credibility; it's also deeply satisfying, as is Jess's ultimate choice between her no-good father and his pursuer. Laced with wonderfully dry humor and pungent observations, a grand yarn that begs to be shared aloud, and again. (Fiction. 10+)

Pub Date: May 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-385-31175-3

Page Count: 218

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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A YEAR DOWN YONDER

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

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Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”

This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BEST MAN
by Richard Peck

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL
by Richard Peck ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
SECRETS AT SEA
by Richard Peck illustrated by Kelly Murphy

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A WEEK IN THE WOODS

by Andrew Clements ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002

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Playing on his customary theme that children have more on the ball than adults give them credit for, Clements (Big Al and Shrimpy, p. 951, etc.) pairs a smart, unhappy, rich kid and a small-town teacher too quick to judge on appearances. Knowing that he’ll only be finishing up the term at the local public school near his new country home before hieing off to an exclusive academy, Mark makes no special effort to fit in, just sitting in class and staring moodily out the window. This rubs veteran science teacher Bill Maxwell the wrong way, big time, so that even after Mark realizes that he’s being a snot and tries to make amends, all he gets from Mr. Maxwell is the cold shoulder. Matters come to a head during a long-anticipated class camping trip; after Maxwell catches Mark with a forbidden knife (a camp mate’s, as it turns out) and lowers the boom, Mark storms off into the woods. Unaware that Mark is a well-prepared, enthusiastic (if inexperienced) hiker, Maxwell follows carelessly, sure that the “slacker” will be waiting for rescue around the next bend—and breaks his ankle running down a slope. Reconciliation ensues once he hobbles painfully into Mark’s neatly organized camp, and the two make their way back together. This might have some appeal to fans of Gary Paulsen’s or Will Hobbs’s more catastrophic survival tales, but because Clements pauses to explain—at length—everyone’s history, motives, feelings, and mindset, it reads more like a scenario (albeit an empowering one, at least for children) than a story. Worthy—but just as Maxwell underestimates his new student, so too does Clement underestimate his readers’ ability to figure out for themselves what’s going on in each character’s life and head. (Fiction. 10-12)