An immersive and thoughtful historical novel that explores West Africa in 1807.
A trip to the capital helps three boys from the Asante Kingdom learn more about themselves, their culture, and the wider world in this debut historical novel for middle graders.
In 1807, the Asante Kingdom (roughly corresponding to modern-day Ghana) is the most powerful nation in West Africa. The dominant ethnic group is the Akan, who enslave prisoners of war, called nnonko. Two Akan boys—Kwaku, 11, and Kwame, 12—and Baako, 13, an enslaved Gurunsi boy, live in the town of Tanoso, where Kwame’s father is chief. It’s time to learn adult skills: throwing a spear, trading in the marketplace, figuring out how taxes work, repairing a roof, thinking and speaking with care, and more. In their matrilineal society, Kwaku—the chief’s elder sister’s son—could become chief if he proves his worth, and Baako’s hard work could earn him his freedom through being adopted. As part of their leadership education, the boys are invited to make the eight-day trip to the Asante capital, Kumasi, for an important festival. It’s an exciting crossroads where the boys see many new sights, including horses and the written word. When Kwame and Baako are kidnapped to be sold into slavery, they face a frightening ordeal that confronts them with their complicated world. With her novel, Soper makes the rich Akan culture come alive through the boys’ need for an education, a natural way to present captivating details. The morality of slavery is considered from several angles. For example, what happens to enslaved people who are sold to Whites is a question dismissed as unknowable. But the book is slowed down by much repetition, such as reiterating the fact that ceremonial stools are painted black to indicate the owners’ deaths. Cloutier provides numerous, well-composed monochrome illustrations that give useful context for unfamiliar elements. Helpful resources are included.
An immersive and thoughtful historical novel that explores West Africa in 1807.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64388-068-6
Page Count: 358
Publisher: Luminare Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Artie’s first day at Ardmore Middle School starts off badly: Before he even leaves the house he’s fallen out of bed, zapped...
A preteen horror take on Groundhog Day.
Artie’s first day at Ardmore Middle School starts off badly: Before he even leaves the house he’s fallen out of bed, zapped himself plugging in the cellphone charger and been squirted with syrup by his little brother. It gets so radically worse that by the afternoon he’s received the dismaying news that a gang has been dispatched to beat him up on the way home at the Principal’s request. Before that can happen, to his astonishment, he’s suddenly waking up in bed. Was it a dream? Hard to say, because again he falls out of bed, zaps himself, gets squirted and goes on to another first day that is nearly the same but even more disastrous. And then again. Each round gets shorter but weirder as Artie’s struggles to head off catastrophes he knows are coming lead to bizarre accidents, wild chases, scary discoveries in the school’s dank, dark basement and, at last, a truly memorable encounter with an oversized custodian who disintegrates into a pack of weasels. After that, it’s almost a letdown when Stine explains Artie’s misadventures with a logical and obvious revelation.Pub Date: July 19, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-64954-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
Separate e-book versions of the entire Boxcar Children series are or soon will be available, but this “bundle” makes an economical way to pick up the first 12. The classic (“dated” to use a more cogent term) original line-drawn illustrations have been preserved in each mystery, but the type size and style can be altered to suit, and each opens with an image of a recent color cover. The “enhanced version” adds four professionally produced, two-minute-or-shorter video clips. These feature fulsome appreciations of the books and their original author by employees and volunteers from Connecticut’s Gertrude Chandler Warner Museum, overviews of the museum and some of its memorabilia—plus a 500-or-so–word biography of Warner and 10 photos of the author, her home and the railroad station that inspired the stories. The absence of Gertrude Chandler Warner and The Boxcar Children, the 1997 biography of the author by Mary Ellen Ellsworth, represents a missed opportunity. As it is, the extra content is no more than a lagniappe but provides at least a glimpse of the series’ live-wire creator for both young readers and nostalgic adult fans. (Enhanced e-book. 9-11, adult)
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4532-1117-5
Page Count: 2813
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
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