Zach is constantly embarrassed by the antics of his younger sister, Eve, a child whom most adults find charming. But when Eve shows off once too often, the siblings—traveling alone in Australia—end up in a confrontation with a pair of bird- smugglers. The thieves throw them off a train in the middle of the outback; Zach and Eve need to survive their ordeal and stop the smugglers, too. Napoli (On Guard, 1996, etc.) works hard in the first half of the book to present Eve as a trial to Zach, and succeeds a little too well: Eve's behavior is so improvident that it's hard to believe she's been released from adult supervision, and Zach remains a commentator, without a personality of his own. By the time the children are battling giant lizards and scorpions in the desert, readers may have lost interest, and exciting action scenes can't quite bolster the ending, in which Zach and Eve learn to get along, the crooks are foiled, the bird is freed, and the children are heroes. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-590-13447-7
Page Count: 190
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997
Unfolding with the clarity of a fairy tale, this sure-footed debut casts a delightfully spooky spell.
Targeted in a wicked scheme, five resourceful kids flee their orphanage in 1892 Amsterdam.
Each longs to be adopted, but would-be parents reject them when they see the kids’ atypical attributes: Lotta’s 12 fingers, Egg’s East Asian ancestry (other characters default to white), Fenna’s muteness, clumsy Sem’s ears, and Milou’s wild ferocity. That is, until sinister Meneer Rotman sees their remarkable gifts—but Milou’s special sense warns her that Rotman’s evil. Indeed: They discover he intends to buy them as slave labor to crew his ship. Milou, who keeps a Book of Theories regarding why her birth family hasn’t claimed her, persuades them to escape to the puppet-making Poppenmaker family she’s sure she belongs to. Loyal if not convinced, the others join her. Lotta’s math and Egg’s cartographic acumen help them follow coordinates on Milou’s mysterious timepiece to the Poppenmakers’ windmill home and puppet theater, now abandoned. Thanks to Lotta’s technical ingenuity, Egg’s artistry, Fenna’s culinary prowess, and Sem’s needlework—assisted by clockmaker and dike warden Edda Finkelstein—it’s almost home. Then Milou forgets the other orphans have family longings, and the orphans discover Rotman has not forgotten them….While the vivid, Dickensian setting—grim orphanage, icy mists, and shadowy dockyards—and quaint clockwork creations and life-size puppets spin a web of Gothic creepiness, the bonds among this found family of lively orphans add plenty of warmth and light.
Unfolding with the clarity of a fairy tale, this sure-footed debut casts a delightfully spooky spell. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11693-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A story in which themes and historical information outshine the character development.
An orphan leaves her oppressive orphanage’s squalor and struggles to keep her place at a girls’ school in 1904 London.
Lainey Philipps’ intellectual curiosity, born from her voracious reading habits, garners the attention of Lady Anne Blunt, who offers her a place at Lovelace Academy. Lainey, whose mother was Jewish, loves the academics but is ostracized and belittled by her posh classmates. After her roommate’s lies threaten her enrollment, Lainey learns of the Lovelace Society, a secret group that supports women scientists. The members have a file on scientist Mileva Einstein (co-author Benedict also wrote 2016’s The Other Einstein). Lainey believes that if she can help Mileva with her research, she won’t be expelled. With resources borrowed from a friend, she makes her way across Europe to the Einsteins’ residence in Switzerland. Unexpected obstacles provide conflict during her journey as she encounters classism and the consequences of mistaken impressions; side characters in this story arc display more nuance. Occasionally, the authors toss out heavy-handed moral messages and canned platitudes that clash with the bleaker look at conditions at the time for orphans, women, and other minorities (such as Lainey’s friend with dyslexia and a character who’s from an unspecified nomadic people). Refreshingly, the text doesn’t elevate cerebral pursuits over caretaking in its message of equality—emotional bonds and shared support are shown to aid in academic advancement—but, disappointingly, the secret-society plot fizzles out.
A story in which themes and historical information outshine the character development. (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781665950213
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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