After her parents die in a wagon accident, Lucy, 11, goes to live with her missionary aunt and uncle, the Wilkinses, who run an Indian school in northern Michigan. Aunt Emma is a taskmaster, while gentle Uncle Edward makes Lucy feel welcome. When Lost Owl asks the Wilkinses to take in his two children for the winter (the only members of his family to have survived a smallpox epidemic), Aunt Emma refuses, but Uncle Edward insists. Raven, who is about Lucy's age, and her younger brother, Star Face (later called Matthew by Aunt Emma) come to stay, and from the first, Raven and Aunt Emma do not get along. Raven rebels against school rules, refuses to answer to the name Aunt Emma gives her (Eleanor), and generally acts like a hellion. When Aunt Emma forbids her to see Matthew, Raven runs away. Only when Matthew becomes desperately ill—a combination of pneumonia and chicken pox—does Raven return. Whelan's (Once On This Island, 1995, etc.) plot is contrived, and her characters who never come off the page; Aunt Emma's stern manner is tiresome. Still, the friendship between Raven and Lucy as they come to understand each other is a good lesson for readers that never seems didactic. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1996
ISBN: 0-06-027077-2
Page Count: 90
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A predictable first novel that's redeemed by a fresh, believable third-person voice. Poppy Field, named by her poet mother for Flanders's famous symbol(!), has set her heart on winning the annual swimming competition when—in the book's first sentence—she breaks her leg by falling off the forbidden roof of her home while spying on old Mrs. Kootabelli (``Cootie'') next door. It takes Poppy weeks to confess that she didn't fall from a tree, and longer still to learn that the accident wasn't caused by Cootie's witchy pointing finger and to acquire sympathy for the lonely old lady—a process facilitated by writing poems about Cootie, and even more by rescuing her when she is trapped in a fire in her yard. Poppy doesn't get her cast off in time for the contest, but she does make a satisfying splash in a final scene at the local beach. Characters are nicely individualized, sharply drawn, and engaging; their lively dialogue keeps the story moving. Poppy is a likably imperfect young protagonist; her parents are firm and sensible, but also refreshingly fallible. An unusually promising debut. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-02-789403-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A ``Springboard Book'' about an irrepressible Bernese mountain dog's adjustment to a new home. Beau, who has spent his first six months in Montana, finds suburban life with a family that has never before had a dog a distressing change. Telling her story from Beau's point of view, Carris offers an amusing mix of authentic puppy behavior and indulgent human interpretation of it—especially in a hilarious scene in which Beau makes chaos of the laundry (where he's cooped up) by attacking the detergent that makes him sneeze and burying it in a basket of clothes. Meanwhile, he's been making friends with young Michael and going to dog training with him; their reunion after Beau gets lost and manages to find his way home makes a satisfying conclusion. Characterization of the adults is at best simplistic, while Mitchell's soft-pencil art is clumsy, if serviceable. Still, a readable story about an appealing pup and his new boy, fine for young dog lovers. (Fiction/Young reader. 7-10)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-13017-6
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992
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