A rare bird of a children’s book that encourages young readers to become environmentally conscious.
At once both familiar and exotic, the rural Pennsylvania world of 12-year-old Claire Belle, an obsessive birdwatcher, is anything but mundane.
Along with her rambunctious sheepdog Sammy, best friend Victor, a member of the Cochiti Indian tribe, and Jerry “The Chicken Man,” Claire embarks on a life-changing journey involving a red-railed hawk that just might hold the key to her biggest secret–her ability to attract whatever bird she happens to be wearing a picture of on her shirt that day. Butler’s greatest triumph is her ability to bring her young hyperaware heroine to life. Using all five senses, the author describes Claire’s passion for the beauty of nature, its vivid sounds and smells–of “hemlock needles, scenting the crisp air” and crows that chirp like “tiny honking cars”–as well as sights like “lattices of shadow” that lie on a “twisting lane.” Instead of creating an unreachable fantasy world, Butler shines a spotlight on everyday magic without shying away from life’s tribulations. A subplot reveals the tension between Claire and her best friend Victor, a video- gamer as much as Claire is a birder, who is involved in his own exploration of a new frontier that leaves Claire behind–a “mission to Mars” undertaken with her only enemy Billy, a bully with a glass eye and a drunken father who also crosses Claire’s path. The story moves swiftly and unpredictably, barreling over its few inconsistencies, like Victor being both a shy boy who eats lunch alone and a gregarious gamer, or Billy being both scared of guns and willing to shoot at a nest unprovoked, not to mention several distracting typos. In fact, the nonstop action-adventure is so detailed–from depictions of a widow’s bobby-pinned hair, to Claire’s big home that doubles as her single mom’s country store, to the reasons Claire chose her bedroom with its large maple tree outside the window–that the book’s unspecific title and bland cover art simply don’t do justice to the narrative. Nor does the book’s ending, which wraps up inorganically. It moves from Claire being held at gunpoint to becoming friends with her sworn enemy in the span of a few quick pages. Even Claire wouldn’t believe that.
A rare bird of a children’s book that encourages young readers to become environmentally conscious.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-9820342-0-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK TO SCREEN
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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