Feeling displaced after her family's move to Arizona, a fourth grader finds the friends she needs to get her past the rough spots, in this graceful story from the author of The Secret Language of the SB (1990). It's blisteringly hot, her pet rat Spotsey dies as a result of the trip, and Jamie has to start her new school before she can even bring herself to unpack. Although one classmate, Elise, is willing to sit with her at recess, and she forms a surprising friendship with Celia, an elderly neighbor, Jamie soon becomes withdrawn and distracted, and the quality of her schoolwork takes a serious slide. She isn't the only one having trouble adjusting: Her younger sister, Rachel, though outwardly serene, starts sleepwalking. Jamie's problems in school come out in a parent- teacher conference, Celia falls ill but gives and receives comfort from her bed, and Jamie and Elise test their friendship with a spat before tensions ease. That plot may follow a predictable path, but in taking the characters down it, Scarboro exhibits an uncommon ability to acquaint readers with these folk, through small incidents or in a few lines of dialogue. The sisters Jamie and Rachel talk freely with one another, and their rare friendship may be the most important one here, in a story that is sparely told but rich in feeling. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-670-86335-1
Page Count: 133
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1996
Sixteen eerie tales, retold with varying success. Most compelling is ``Tiny Man,'' from ``Legends of the Cars'' (Folklore, 1891), a haunting tale reminiscent of ``The Buried Moon.'' An excerpt from Lagerlof's The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1907) concerns a talking stork on Easter Eve, hardly a representative sample of this classic fantasy about a boy who is transformed into an elf and flies about on a wild goose. A prose version of the ballad ``Binnorie'' (``The Haunted Harp'') does little to make that story accessible or appealing to young readers. For the most part, a disappointing contribution from this fine storyteller. Sources; illustrations not seen. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-36796-6
Page Count: 123
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1991
Not true crabs but arthropods, the 9,000,000 armor-plated horseshoe crabs in waters from New York to North Carolina are little changed from their ancestors of 500 million years ago. Once considered a nuisance by fishermen who harvested as many as 4 million a year and ground them for fertilizer, the species is gaining the respect of scientists studying its unusual blood, brain, eyes, and armor plating. The blood is used in cancer research and in testing for the presence of bacteria and toxins; chitin from the shell promotes healing. In this entry in the ``Remarkable Animals'' series, Day (who once worked in a crab-blood processing plant) notes current efforts to protect and celebrate the horseshoe crab; she includes photos of the First Annual Horseshoe Crab Festival (in New Jersey in 1991), and concludes with information on an Adopt-a-Crab Club and sources of live and preserved crabs. Though some of the color photos are muddy or dark, others are excellent—a close-up of the compound eye, for example, or embryos in their fluid-filled sacks. A wealth of information in attractive format. Brief fact summary; glossary; index. (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 19, 1992
ISBN: 0-87518-545-2
Page Count: 60
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1992
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