Hussey stretches a short story’s worth of ineptly developed plot over tedious rambles about the Cornish countryside, un-compelling mysteries revealed with agonizing slowness, prolonged flashbacks in the form of passages from an old diary, and whiny rants against faceless rain-forest despoilers. Informed that he’s inherited a large country estate, Stephen, abandoned as a baby, arrives in Cornwall to find the gates unlocked, the house open—but not a soul to be found. With breaks to pore over an ancestor’s wordy account of an early 20th-century trip up the Amazon, Stephen roams the grounds, discovering dozens of native and exotic plants. At length, he comes upon the estate’s inhabitants: a very old Amazonian Indian named Murra-yari and a herd of “Bugwomps,” limbless, caterpillar-like creatures with the eyes and personalities of primates. Money problems threaten an end to the ensuing idyll—but Murra-yari suddenly produces a pre-Columbian gold figurine to sell off, then dies, making way for Beth, an attractive replacement companion. Crump contributes small, atmospheric chapter-head scenes, which don’t help to plug the holes in this leaky, agenda-driven tale. (lists of species, multimedia resources) (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-87862-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2005
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
In this abridged and illustrated version of his Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), Bryson invites a younger crowd of seekers on a tour of time, space and science—from the Big Bang and the birth of the solar system to the growth and study of life on Earth. The single-topic spreads are adorned with cartoon portraits of scientists, explorers and (frequently) the author himself, which go with small nature photos and the occasional chart or cutaway view. Though occasionally subject to sweeping and dubious statements—“There’s no chance we could ever make a journey through the solar system”—Bryson makes a genial guide (“for you to be here now, trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to come together in a complicated and obliging manner to create you”), and readers with even a flicker of curiosity in their souls about Big Ideas will come away sharing his wonder at living in such a “fickle and eventful universe.” (index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-73810-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
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