As in Mann's My Dad Lives in a Downtown Hotel, above, the purpose here is more therapeutic than aesthetic, but (also like My Dad...) this is an honest and understanding first-person reconstruction of the thoughts and feelings any child might have in the situation. The subject here is death. The narrator's friend Jamie is first seen laughing in a blackberry patch, then stealing apples from an ornery farmer reputed to have a gun; a little later he is poking into a beehive with a stick, and when he screams and falls and writhes on the ground his friend thinks that he is just horsing around as usual. Soon afterwards, Jamie is dead from a bee sting. The other boys's progressive reactions are both individual and psychologically true: first, numb incomprehension and a sense of incongruity ("Did the world know that Jamie was dead? The sky didn't act like it"), then denial ("It seemed that as long as I acted like he wasn't dead, he wouldn't be dead"), bargaining ("Maybe it didn't make much sense but I knew I couldn't eat until after the funeral"), and asking why (when a neighbor answers that some questions do not have answers, "This made more sense than if she tried to tell me some junk about God needing angels"). Then when the blackberries ripen, he picks two baskets, one for his own and one for Jamie's mother, who thanks him and doesn't cry—and "in my relief I felt that Jamie, too, was glad the main sadness was over." Tailormade to support the current emphasis by child psychologists and psychiatrists on preparing children to deal with death. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: May 21, 1973
ISBN: 978-0-06-440238-5
Page Count: 100
Publisher: T.Y. Crowell
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1973
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tremendous return.
Several months have passed since the events of The Rise of the Jumbies (2017), when Corinne La Mer faced her mother’s sister, Severine, and the mighty Mama D’Leau, the jumbies of forest and sea.
Corinne anxiously awaits her father’s yellow fishing boat every day, scanning the sea for trouble, afraid that Severine will come back for revenge. Her friends encourage her to keep her mind on land rather than the waters. One day, an out-of-season hurricane suddenly turns the island upside down. As the hurricane rips the island apart, the villagers take to the mountains for shelter. There, Corinne finds Papa Bois, guardian jumbie of the forest. He tells her the storm is the work of the jumbie god, Huracan. Even though she’s half jumbie herself, Corinne isn’t sure how to stop the mighty god from destroying the island. What could cause such fury? With the help of her friends, human and jumbie, Corinne sets out to fix things once and for all and to face Huracan himself. With this strong return to the Jumbies series, Baptiste engages all the senses, from the taste of sweet oranges to the scent of salty air. Corinne strengthens her relationships with the island, the people, and all the creatures within. Her determination, compassion, and bravery will inspire readers to face down any challenges crossing their paths. Baptiste carefully represents Caribbean diversity; most characters are Afro Caribbean like Corinne, but friend Dru’s heritage is South Asian.
A tremendous return. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61620-891-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
For the curious, the listeners, the adventurers, the caregivers, the young, and the old.
How does one entertain two baby kestrels in the middle of a West Texas dust storm? With camel stories, of course.
Like her namesake Scheherazade, elderly camel Zada has many stories to tell from her adventurous life. It’s 1910, and she has charge of Wims and Beulah, two baby kestrels whose parents have vanished in a vicious dust storm. The threesome shelter in an empty mountain lion’s cave, waiting for safety. Zada hopes to get the chicks to the safe meeting place chosen by their parents just before a dust devil snatched them away. The evocative language is spellbinding as tales from Zada’s life calm the baby birds—and capture the interest of readers as well. The fledglings learn that Zada was raised by a Turkish pasha and gifted with eight other prized racing camels to the U.S. Army in 1856, ending up in Texas (events inspired by actual history). A delight to the senses, Zada’s stories are a descriptive wonder, featuring roiling dust, howling winds, fresh figs, and cool water, bolstering the emotions shown in Rohmann’s grayscale oil paintings. Readers will revel in both the vivid stories of Zada’s past and the rich vocabulary of Texas desert life. Appelt’s voice and pacing demonstrate her fine storytelling skills. Hearts will grow fond of this wise old camel; she is a bright star.
For the curious, the listeners, the adventurers, the caregivers, the young, and the old. (glossary, author’s note, sources) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0643-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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