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MY OCEAN

Name: MY OCEAN
Author: Enrique Pérez Díaz
ISBN: 978-0-88899-797-5

by Enrique Pérez Díaz & translated by Trudy Balch ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2008

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In a long, introspective letter to the sea that surrounds his island, a Cuban lad reflects on his inner and outer lives. Feeling sometimes as if everyone is leaving for “El Norte,” 12-year-old Enrique notes the steady departures of relatives and acquaintances against a backdrop of school days, family visits and walks along the beach. The prose is often lyrical; on the relationship between his country and the United States, for instance, he writes: “There’s so much distance between us. So much forgetting, so many good-byes. So much silence because of words never said. So many tears never cried and laughter never heard.” On the other hand, because he relates everything from expressions of his growing sense of isolation to multiple encounters with bandits and sharks in the same level voice, there’s a detached quality to his narrative that is likely to leave most readers unengaged. Not as intensely felt as such similar monologues as the author’s Letters from Alain (2008) or Teresa Cardenas’s Letters to My Mother (2006), this still has value for its focus on the ones who stay behind. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-88899-797-5

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MYSTERIOUS STONES
by Enrique Pérez Díaz ; illustrated by Yayo ; translated by Alina Ruiz

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A YEAR DOWN YONDER

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

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Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”

This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BEST MAN
by Richard Peck

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL
by Richard Peck ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
SECRETS AT SEA
by Richard Peck illustrated by Kelly Murphy

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DAVID GOES TO SCHOOL

by David Shannon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

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The poster boy for relentless mischief-makers everywhere, first encountered in No, David! (1998), gives his weary mother a rest by going to school. Naturally, he’s tardy, and that’s but the first in a long string of offenses—“Sit down, David! Keep your hands to yourself! PAY ATTENTION!”—that culminates in an afterschool stint. Children will, of course, recognize every line of the text and every one of David’s moves, and although he doesn’t exhibit the larger- than-life quality that made him a tall-tale anti-hero in his first appearance, his round-headed, gap-toothed enthusiasm is still endearing. For all his disruptive behavior, he shows not a trace of malice, and it’ll be easy for readers to want to encourage his further exploits. (Picture book. 5-7)