by Claire Montgomery & Monte Montgomery & illustrated by Jeff Shelly ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2005
Fifteen-year-old Mesopotamian Hubert will never be the Hauler his father hopes he will. Hubert takes after his mother; he’s a scrawny, brainy inventor. Still, he tries to please his dim-but-well-meaning, sledge-driving Dad since Mom was lost in an unfortunate umbrella incident. Hubert and his onager (small horse with large attitude) Hodja invent in their spare time. Though founded on sound ideas, Hubert’s inventions always go wrong until he invents the wheel and changes society—and puts it in danger from hunky-but-desperate Assyrian leader Ajax. Ever the answer man, Hubert saves his city from Ajax’s plot and all ends well. Anachronism, silly humor and slapstick abound in this history-that-never-was adventure. Some of the humor will shoot over the most astute of the target audience: Vain Queen Eridu likes statues of herself; everyone knows she has an Edifice Complex. However, there are enough laughs and action to keep readers reading, and Shelly’s cartoon illustrations are an asset. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-8027-8990-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2005
Share your opinion of this book
by Seymour Simon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1993
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
Share your opinion of this book
by Neil Gaiman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
Share your opinion of this book
More by Neil Gaiman
BOOK REVIEW
by Neil Gaiman ; illustrated by Various
BOOK REVIEW
by Neil Gaiman ; illustrated by Chris Riddell
BOOK REVIEW
by Neil Gaiman ; illustrated by Divya Srinivasan
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.