In the Women Writers of English and Their Works series, an entry that brings together 12 children's book (female) writers, most of them dead (Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Louise Fitzhugh, Kate Greenaway, E. Nesbit, L.M. Montgomery, Beatrix Potter, P.L. Travers, Laura Ingalls Wilder), but three who are most definitely not: Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Katherine Paterson. The critical extracts that Bloom (Vergil's Aeneid, 1996, etc.) brings together are difficult going even for well-read adults; what YAs may come away with—from Henry James's attacks on Alcott and Alison Lurie's retread of Greenaway as the lame boy the Pied Piper leaves behind—is the vast, consuming nature of literary criticism, its subjectivity, occasional forays into spite, and infrequent—incidental— illumination. Brief biographies (three or four paragraphs) provide background on each of the 12, while bibliographies of their works point the way to primary sources. The breadth of the 80+ articles included (from Anne Parrish on Greenaway in 1846 to articles on Wilder that have appeared in the last year) and their variety (Graham Green on Potter, Jonathan Cott on P.L. Travers, Paterson on Paterson) make the volume essential for the professional reading shelves; it may require some coaxing to get it into the hands of younger bibliophiles but will justify such coaxing amply. (Criticism. 14+)
Pub Date: Sept. 8, 1997
ISBN: 0-7910-4486-6
Page Count: 165
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A comprehensive, up-to-date, well-balanced look at our industrialized society's poisoning of the air we breathe. Making good use of research she did for previous books on more specific topics, Gay covers a whole range of problems: urban smog (even in places considered clean), acid rain, global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, chemical poisons, radioactive pollution, and hazardous indoor air. She discusses the nature of each (including views of those who don't think it is a problem), how it came to public attention, and its damaging effects, tying them all to global concerns (particularly population issues and problems of Third World countries) and presenting mitigating solutions on both social and individual levels. The b&w photos and diagrams are well keyed to the text. An excellent resource. Helpful glossary; source notes; bibliography; list of organizations to contact; index. (Nonfiction. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-531-13002-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
A noted author (Summer of My German Soldier, 1973) depicts the tragic effects of homophobia, with results that are more polemical than literary. Carla, high-school-age daughter of the feisty, liberal librarian in a small Arkansas town, is overwhelmingly attracted to Andy, as much because of his all-American lifestyle as his handsome good looks. She's even willing to overlook his vicious harassment of a gay couple until, in a brutally vivid scene, he and some of his friends torture and drown one of them. Eyes opened, Carla steps forward as chief witness at a trial that results in a manslaughter conviction and probation for all. At the close, Stephan Jones' surviving partner extracts a uniquely apt revenge. Unfortunately, Greene's empathetic depiction of the gay couple and her powerful arguments concerning the role of religion in gay persecution are undermined by an awkward, florid style with abruptly shifting points of view and a tendency to tell rather than show. A story with a significant theme, but without the artistic distinction of the author's early books. (Fiction. 14+)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-553-07437-7
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
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