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SNEAK THIEF

Name: SNEAK THIEF
Author: Faith Harkey
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1747-6

by Faith Harkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2018

Lacking on several levels.

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A 12-year-old delinquent discovers healing powers in Harkey’s second book set in a magical, quaint Southern town.

Belle Cantrell, better known as Hush, lives in ’Bagoville, a derelict RV park outside the seemingly mostly white community of Sass, Georgia. She makes a habit of stealing small items from stores but declines to help her abusive mother’s angry boyfriend take part in real crime. When she’s caught, local folks send her to live with a pregnant gardener, Mabel, instead of juvie. It’s then that Hush discovers that she can see people’s pain, manifest as small red worms she dubs “pain imps,” and by removing them, heal people. Only sometimes pain is a warning signal, and so Hush’s good intentions backfire. The magical realism falls short here not because of the magic, but because the rest of the story feels false from the very beginning, when a girl Hush has never met before becomes her instant friend, all the way to the contrived resolution between Hush and her shockingly terrible mother. Hush’s problems are portrayed as simultaneously truly awful and easily cured; child readers with difficult backgrounds will recognize the inherent falsehood. Furthermore, Hush’s first-person Southern-isms are overdone to the point of stereotype, and her voice seldom feels authentic.

Lacking on several levels. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: March 13, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5247-1747-6

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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NUMBER THE STARS

by Lois Lowry ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1989

A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...

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The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.

Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.

A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: April 1, 1989

ISBN: 0547577095

Page Count: 156

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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TREE. TABLE. BOOK.
by Lois Lowry

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THE WINDEBY PUZZLE
by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh

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THE WILLOUGHBYS RETURN
by Lois Lowry

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THE ONE AND ONLY RUBY

From the One and Only series , Vol. 3

by Katherine Applegate ; illustrated by Patricia Castelao ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2023

Certain to steal hearts.

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In this follow-up to 2020’s The One and Only Bob, Ruby the elephant is still living at Wildworld Zoological Park and Sanctuary.

She’s apprehensive about her Tuskday, a rite of passage for young elephants when she’ll give a speech in front of the rest of the herd. Luckily, she can confide in her Uncle Ivan, who is next door in Gorilla World, and Uncle Bob, the dog who lives nearby with human friend Julia. Ruby was born in an unspecified part of Africa, later ending up on display in the mall, where she met Ivan, Bob, and Julia. The unexpected arrival of someone from Ruby’s past life on the savanna revives memories both warmly nostalgic and deeply traumatic. An elephant glossary and Castelao’s charming, illustrated guide to elephant body language help immerse readers in Ruby’s world. Goofy, playful, and mischievous Ruby is fully dimensional, as she has shown her bravery during the many hardships of her young life. Applegate deftly tempers themes of grief and loss with compassion and humor as Ruby finds her place in the herd. The author’s note touches on climate change, the illegal ivory trade, and conservation efforts, but the highly emotive framing of the story through the memories of a bewildered baby elephant emphasizes the impact of lines such as “ ‘in Africa,’ I say softly, ‘there were bad people,’ ” without offering readers a nuanced understanding of the broader context that drives poaching.

Certain to steal hearts. (Fiction. 8-12)