Eat, Pray, Love for tweens.
The matchless true-life travelogue of a 9-year-old’s trip to Borneo, co-authored by a mother-daughter writing team.
Nine-year-old Ali is less than thrilled when her parents announce that the whole family will be going to Borneo for their summer vacation. She doesn’t even know where Borneo is, and neither does her school librarian. Ali wonders why they can’t spend their summer on the beach in Florida, preferably staying at a hotel with decent toiletries and nightly chocolates on the pillow. However, Ali and her older brother, Zak, know all too well their former-hippie parents’ penchant for traveling to exotic locations to experience the way other people live. The trip to Borneo forces Ali to confront one of her biggest fears—flying—and unfortunately introduces her to new fears: bedbugs, leeches, kidnapping and being stuck in a stairwell. Despite her continued hope for a nice, luxurious hotel, Ali concedes that their experiences—whitewater rafting with natives, diving, hiking in the rain forest and staying in a treehouse—make the family’s atypical holiday worthwhile. Rollason’s naturally engaging writing style (perhaps assisted by her multipublished, academic mother) makes this a quick, enjoyable read, equally appealing to adults and slightly advanced younger readers. Similarly, the unattributed illustrations and black-and-white photographs add visual interest for younger readers and adults alike. Rollason, age 10 when the book was written, manages to be indulgently exasperated with her parents without the attitude an older child might express. She shares her perceptions of cultural differences and environmental descriptions in an unaffected manner, without being bogged down by research or too many facts. Leeches and bedbugs notwithstanding, the unique experiences shared in Borneo bring the family closer together. Allusions to headhunting in Borneo’s history, as well as that disturbing leech incident and an island of lost children, may make this memoir inappropriate as a read-aloud for younger children, but tweens of both genders will happily join the adventure.
Eat, Pray, Love for tweens.Pub Date: May 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481746731
Page Count: 112
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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