An entertaining coming-of-age tale with a serious environmental message.
A young detective takes on the case of her missing parents in this debut middle-grade novel.
Despite her conventional name, 10-year-old Susan Jones is no ordinary kid. As Madame X, she’s a private eye, solving such mysteries as a lost phone or stolen toys. Her parents aren’t routine either; they’re marine biologists, famous for their TV specials, who travel the world hoping to save the oceans. When they disappear, Susan has a new case to solve—which soon becomes wrapped up in another mystery. Susan; her best friend, Johnny Peters; and his 7-year-old brother, Teddy, discover bizarre elfin creatures called Thingamabobs living underground in Susan’s town. They claim to be purely beneficial to humans, but a note has warned Susan that “They have your parents.” A Thingamabob leader promises to help if Susan can find an errant Bob—but all is not as it seems. Following clues, Susan and her friends investigate beneath the town, where they discover that the area’s septic issues are related to Bob activities. The Bobs are trying to take over the entire underground and destroying the ecosystem above. A desperate note from her parents gives Susan her mission: “If you can save the creeks, you can save us.” Susan and her friends undertake a wild and often gross quest in underground sewers and creeks, hoping to save the Joneses and their town before it’s too late. In her novel, Conway tells an exciting story that appeals on several levels: as a mystery, an adventure, and an ecology parable. In addition to the striking plot, the characters are strong; Susan’s voice is a fresh and funny pleasure, as when describing being caught in a maelstrom of chilly sewer water: “It was like being in an evil, cold Jacuzzi.” Susan grows as she appreciates her ability to change the world, and she shows initiative, courage, and good instincts in her detective work. Also compelling are debut illustrator Angelovic’s images, which have a cool retro style that captures the book’s energy and originality.
An entertaining coming-of-age tale with a serious environmental message.Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73317-178-6
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Zealot Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
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