by Del Corey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 19, 2012
An often engaging military novel that’s best suited for an older audience seeking a sweet taste of the good old days.
Corey’s debut novel follows a young soldier’s sentimental journey to manhood.
This first-person tale starts in 1953 as the 18-year-old Ted Byrum trains to become an Army Airborne paratrooper. He’s the son of a boozy but hardworking father and devout homemaking mother from a poor section of West Springfield, Mass. Byrum’s a naïve but keen observer and quick learner, and his chief ambition is to discover what it means to “be a man”—an injunction his father voices when putting him aboard the train to Fort Campbell, Ky. The training-camp setting supports the plot’s key conflict, as Byrum learns how and when to fight and how and when not to. He has a knack for making quick friendships and also for getting into trouble by speaking his mind. However, he’s also a sensitive soul, constantly fighting back tears and discovering the poetic aspects of routine matters; as a result, similes wink like taillights at every turn (“Father twirled the cigarette through his fingers like a baton”). Corey ably captures the relative innocence of the 1950s era, even as he takes on such subjects as bullying, racism, homosexuality and moral authority. The result, however, sometimes reads like a Hardy Boys mystery laced with profanity, mild sexual content, drinking, fistfights and Catholic Church services. Corey makes Byrum a character worth caring about, but peripheral players are often stereotypical: Mess-hall managers at two different military bases are named Cookie, and both are huge African-American men with gentle demeanors, bright white teeth and drawling southern accents. The pace is lively, as the author brackets his scenes in 102 chapters, each just three or four pages long. The multitude of transitions, however, spawns a few chapter-ending teasers that amount to spoilers. Corey sometimes crams too much back story into characters’ letters and dialogue, and he adds three epilogues to summarize the characters’ subsequent lives. Overall, Byrum’s adventures are highly entertaining, but they occasionally stretch believability. This aspect, along with the narrative’s maudlin tone, will likely cause readers to either love this book or dismiss it out of hand.
An often engaging military novel that’s best suited for an older audience seeking a sweet taste of the good old days.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-1477285763
Page Count: 434
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Marti Dumas illustrated by Stephanie Parcus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 11, 2017
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
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A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Paul Langan Ben Alirez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2004
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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