In search of adventure, feisty 11-year-old Hallelujah escapes the watchful eye of her guardian and watches Chicago burn down around her during one memorable October week. Meticulously, Robinet re-creates the events of the 1871 fire. Hallelujah wanders about, witnessing behavior both brave and cowardly; performing some brave deeds of her own; alternating between excitement, horror at the destruction, and guilt that she is enjoying the experience; and meeting a succession of people- -including Elizabeth, a wealthy, newly homeless white girl who lives with Hallelujah until her snooty parents track her down. The characters here are less well developed than the themes; adults can sound childlike (``Lordy, Mr. Joseph, what have you done did?'') while children sound like adults (``We're both children. We have the same feelings and needs...''), but Hallelujah sees many people put aside their racial prejudices and pitch in to begin rebuilding. The message sits a bit heavily, and there are some careless repetitions; still, this child's-eye view of a great event should appeal to readers with a historical bent. Bibliography; maps not seen. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1991
ISBN: 0-689-31655-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for 14-year-old Nick Freestone, as he is sent out of London during the Blitz only to arrive at his father’s teak plantation in Burma right before the Japanese invade. When his father is taken prisoner and hauled off to a prisoner-of-war camp and the plantation is taken over by the Japanese, Nick eventually escapes and reunites with his father with the help of an ancient Buddhist monk, a beautiful, smart girl named Mya, a Burmese Robin Hood, a rampaging bull elephant and various people resisting the Japanese occupation. It’s the thrilling adventure tale Smith is known for, strong on plot and setting, and though the beginning is an uneasy mix of story and information, the tale soon rolls. Adult readers will be reminded of The Bridge on the River Kwai, as the threats of the steamy jungle and the brutality of enemy soldiers are twin complications in a country at war. An adventure tale that is also a family story—as is Smith’s other 2007 title, Peak. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4231-0402-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
Taking a page from Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990), Kehret (I’m Not Who You Think I Am, p. 223, etc.) pens a similar story of a girl who goes to sea. Determined not to be separated from her seriously ill mother, Emma, 12, embarks on a plan that results in the adventure of a lifetime. Sent to live with Aunt Martha and her arrogant son, Odolf, Emma carefully plots her escape. Disguising herself in her cousin’s used clothes, she sneaks out while the household slumbers and stows away on what she believes to be a ship carrying her parents from England to the warmer climate of France. Instead, the ship is the evil, ill-fated Black Lightning, under the command of the notorious Captain Beacon. Emma finds herself sharing quarters with a crew of filthy, surly, dangerous men. When a fierce storm swamps the ship, Emma desperately seizes her chance to escape, drifting for several days and nights aboard a hatch cover and finally carried to land somewhere on the coast of Africa. Hungry, thirsty, and alone, Emma faces the daunting prospect of slow starvation, but survives due to a relationship she builds with a band of chimpanzees. This page-turning adventure story shows evidence of solid research and experienced plotting—the pacing is breathless. Kehret paints a starkly realistic portrait, complete with sounds and smells of the difficult and unpleasant life aboard ship. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-671-03416-2
Page Count: 138
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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