by Ellen Howard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1996
A dry, disappointing story of two children fleeing Nazi-occupied France. After escaping from Paris with his mother just ahad of the German army, Bertrand summers with other children in a school, then is taken to his grandmother's home near the Swiss border. Meanwhile, Zina copes with loneliness and boredom near the Spanish border. The two plot lines converge when Bertrand and Zina become members of a group of refugee children being sent to America. Both feel abandoned by their parents; Zina responds by going mute, Bertrand with a fragile bravado. Throughout, the children's bewilderment and sense of loss are clear, but they cross southern France, Spain, and Portugal largely oblivious to the world through which they travel, and their journey is more monotonous than dangerous. It's also incomplete; Howard (The Tower Room, 1993, etc.) ends the tale by leaving her protagonists on a bus in Lisbon, heading for the ship that will carry them overseas. Zina regains her voice and Bertrand loses his fear, but they never clearly realize just why they've been sent away, and readers expecting them to reach safety will find the conclusion precipitate. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-689-80774-0
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1996
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ellen Howard
BOOK REVIEW
by Ellen Howard
BOOK REVIEW
by Ellen Howard & illustrated by Ronald Himler
BOOK REVIEW
by Ellen Howard & illustrated by Ronald Himler
by Sallie Ketcham ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999
PLB 0-531-33140-7 Ketcham’s first book is based on an allegedly true story of a childhood incident in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. It starts with a couple of pages regaling the Bach home and all the Johanns in the family, who made their fame through music. After his father’s death, Johann Sebastian goes to live with his brother, Johann Christoph, where he boasts that he is the best organist in the world. Johann Christoph contradicts him: “Old Adam Reincken is the best.” So Johann Sebastian sets out to hear the master himself. In fact, he is humbled to tears, but there is hope that he will be the world’s best organist one day. Johann Sebastian emerges as little more than a brat, Reincken as more of a suggestion than a character. Bush’s illustrations are most transporting when offering details of the landscape, but his protagonist is too impish to give the story much authority. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30140-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
Share your opinion of this book
by David A. Adler ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999
Adler (also with Widener, Lou Gehrig, 1997, etc.) sets his fictional story during the week of July 14, 1932, in the Bronx, when the news items that figure in this tale happened. A boy gets a dime for his birthday, instead of the bicycle he longs for, because it is the Great Depression, and everyone who lives in his neighborhood is poor. While helping his friend Jacob sell newspapers, he discovers that his own father, who leaves the house with a briefcase each day, is selling apples on Webster Avenue along with the other unemployed folk. Jacob takes the narrator to Yankee Stadium with the papers, and people don’t want to hear about the Coney Island fire or the boy who stole so he could get something to eat in jail. They want to hear about Babe Ruth and his 25th homer. As days pass, the narrator keeps selling papers, until the astonishing day when Ruth himself buys a paper from the boy with a five-dollar bill and tells him to keep the change. The acrylic paintings bask in the glow of a storied time, where even row houses and the elevated train have a warm, solid presence. The stadium and Webster Avenue are monuments of memory rather than reality in a style that echoes Thomas Hart Benton’s strong color and exaggerated figures. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201378-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Share your opinion of this book
More by David A. Adler
BOOK REVIEW
by David A. Adler ; illustrated by Anna Raff
BOOK REVIEW
by David A. Adler ; illustrated by Edward Miller
BOOK REVIEW
by David A. Adler ; illustrated by John O’Brien
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.