Tongue embedded in cheek, Mone proffers a nautical tale well stocked with typecast pirates and starring an Irish farmboy whose aversion to fighting is surpassed only by his abilities in the water. Inducted into the knavish crew of the sloop Scurvy Mistress, young Fish finds himself involved both in piecing together baroque clues to the location of a fabulous golden treasure known as the Chain of Chuaca and in protecting the gentlemanly but naïve Captain Cobb from brutal mutineers and rival treasure hunters. Passing up The Buccaneers’ Book of Bombs, Guidelines for the Enterprising Pirate and like tomes from the ship’s library to learn pirate skills directly from his new shipmates, Fish becomes so proficient at scrubbing the decks and “seats of easement” that he soon earns acceptance despite his refusal to touch a gun or sword. Thanks to quick wit and an uncommon ability to swim he also saves numerous lives, plays a pivotal role in causing the climactic mutiny’s failure and winds up a hero—a very, very rich hero. Which, readers will agree, is only just. His pacifism adds an unusual element for stories of this ilk, too. (Adventure. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-11632-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
London (Ice Bear and Little Fox, 1998, etc.) describes a family’s trip into the mountains to backpack up a creek. There’s strenuous hiking through chest-deep cold water, worry-free skinny-dipping on a sunny day, a cookout under the stars, a dangerous encounter with a mountain lion, and a final feat—climbing a waterfall. Kastner’s brilliantly colored oil paintings fill every page, pulling readers into the trip to experience nature’s wonders. Together, the family does the very thing “that cannot be done”—they climb the side of a steep waterfall to its peak, rejoicing in a polished piece of driftwood to take home as a souvenir. A poetic appreciation of the beauty of nature and respect for its awesome force. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-670-87617-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Kurtz (I’m Sorry, Almira Ann, 1999, etc.) turns personal disaster into a universally affecting book about the 1997 flooding of the Red River in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Pictures and text catapult readers into the experience of loss when a river swells higher than anyone could have imagined and floods a town. Fleeing her home, the narrator leaves her cat behind and spends much of the flood’s aftermath missing her “motor-stomach Kiwi cat” as her family sleeps on the shelter’s hard cots; knows that “someday I’ll do the same for someone else” as she accepts provisions others have anonymously donated and delivered; sifts through the family’s sodden Christmas box to find mostly useless evidence of happy memories; and sees the unutterable mess and loss of all that is home, which will finally, ironically, be washed away by a new, life-saving dike. The beautifully articulate poems chronicle as well the loss of a good neighborhood, one where people save a cat because they can and it’s a good thing to do, just as they would, in happier times, have loaned a cup of sugar. Without sentimentality, the book speaks of loss as elemental as the force bringing it and of survival of equal magnitude. Brennan’s stylish oils, sometimes framed on a page, sometimes in full-bleed pages or spreads, capture and express this blend of specific universality. A book that belongs on every shelf in buildings up and down the country’s riverways. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82049-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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