Shortly after his father’s death, 12-year-old Jonah and his photographer mother go on a trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands. While climbing on the seaside cliffs, Jonah sees a girl on the beach and makes a point of seeking her out…catapulting himself 14,000 years into the past, where survival is the paramount issue of every waking hour. Readers may not be particularly surprised when Jonah finds out it isn’t easy to make a fire without matches, that he has to constantly scan for food if he is not to go hungry and that even other humans can be lethal. Despite its premise, this short read is less a prehistoric adventure than a vehicle for Jonah to explore such basic questions as what’s really important to him, what he can believe in and what constitutes family. Ward does not delve too deeply below the surface of these issues, perhaps in the hope that this will stimulate his readers to think for themselves. Leaving much unresolved, however, with an ending that is too pat, this is more of an appetizer than a satisfying read. (Fantasy. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-88995-400-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Red Deer Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An outstanding new edition of this popular modern classic (Newbery Award, 1961), with an introduction by Zena Sutherland and...
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-395-53680-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An original, clever, page-turning adventure.
During the Blitz, 12-year-old Londoner Kat, along with two younger siblings and an American boy, is sent to a distant relative’s Scottish castle, where they confront evils both old and contemporary.
Though Lady Eleanor claims to be starting an academy in her castle and has hired faculty to attend to the curriculum, it’s soon clear that none are what they claim to be. The old castle keep is burned out, and the newer part seems to have weird twists and turns, secret doors and strange goings-on, including several ghostly children. Clues multiply early on that Eleanor is the same woman for whom the creepy, unnamed village magister has replaced living parts one by one over decades, each given in payment for a charm for a child’s soul. Kat’s father—now away working for MI6—is a watchmaker, and Kat has his gift for numbers, gears, and puzzles. Witchy magic, Nazi menace, and clockwork all come into play, along with an Enigma machine and spies for both the Allies and the Nazis seeking occult sources of power or protection. After the breathtaking climax, various threads of the story are tied up in a drawing-room denouement in which the characters decide to dispose of toxic magical artifacts rather carelessly—though in a way that invites anticipation (and fortuitously leaves room for sequels).
An original, clever, page-turning adventure. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: March 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-47633-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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