Years ago, Tyler's pa woke from a drunken stupor next to a dead man and, afraid he'd be convicted of a murder he didn't commit, changed his name and moved his wife and son from New York to the Everglades. Now, in 1906, Tyler is 13, a gifted artist who cares deeply for the region's already-endangered wildlife. ``Plumers'' have recently killed a warden assigned to protect egrets and other species threatened by rapacious hunters gathering their fashionable plumage. When long-winded Mr. Strawbridge of Philadelphia turns up seeking help in what he describes as scientific work, Tyler signs on; his family needs the money and he's glad to draw the pictures Strawbridge praises. But Tyler is quickly disillusioned; like Audubon, this naturalist shoots birds to study them. Sure that the wilderness is destined for annihilation, he aims to preserve specimens for museums; without scruple, he forces Tyler to lead him to a nesting place shown him, on trust, by a Seminole friend. Naãve when it comes to the local situation, Strawbridge loses his life in a terrifying encounter with the plumers; Tyler escapes, but the incident causes Pa to face up to his past and return to New York. This is easily the author's best novel since Weasel (1990), with strong, vividly evoked characters caught up in taut events that make a potent vehicle for a contemporay message illuminated by its historical setting. Author's note. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-726466-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
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
A child finds that being alone in a tiny tropical paradise has its ups and downs in this appealingly offbeat tale from the Australian author of Peeling the Onion (1999). Though her mother is long dead and her scientist father Jack has just sailed off on a quick expedition to gather plankton, Nim is anything but lonely on her small island home. Not only does she have constant companions in Selkie, a sea lion, and a marine iguana named Fred, but Chica, a green turtle, has just arrived for an annual egg-laying—and, through the solar-powered laptop, she has even made a new e-mail friend in famed adventure novelist Alex Rover. Then a string of mishaps darkens Nim’s sunny skies: her father loses rudder and dish antenna in a storm; a tourist ship that was involved in her mother’s death appears off the island’s reefs; and, running down a volcanic slope, Nim takes a nasty spill that leaves her feverish, with an infected knee. Though she lives halfway around the world and is in reality a decidedly unadventurous urbanite, Alex, short for “Alexandra,” sets off to the rescue, arriving in the midst of another storm that requires Nim and companions to rescue her. Once Jack brings his battered boat limping home, the stage is set for sunny days again. Plenty of comic, freely-sketched line drawings help to keep the tone light, and Nim, with her unusual associates and just-right mix of self-reliance and vulnerability, makes a character young readers won’t soon tire of. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-81123-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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