From an impressive list of contributors, Mazer (The Last Mission, 1979) gathers a dozen short stories. Walter Dean Myers's tale of a simple glance between strangers on the subway that leads to violence is chilling in its authenticity, especially in the voice of the narrator, a young bike messenger. The opening image in Frederick Busch's story—of Pete, a young boy, holding the barrel of a .38 in his mouth as he contemplates suicide—is riveting, as is the story that follows: In the wake of his parents' divorce, Pete is so alienated that oblivion seems preferable to beginning a new life with his father in a strange town. By placing the gun in a familiar domestic setting, Busch succeeds in making its violent effects more palpable. Nancy Springer presents a young woman living with her father, a gunsmith, following the murder of her mother: Although Cassidy is terrified of guns, she endures the sharpshooting lessons her father provides, and in an ironic twist, it is through the use of a gun that she finds her heart and her courage again. Such searing tales are mercifully offset with lighter entries, e.g., Richard Peck's re-creation of some sawed-off shotgun shenanigans around a backwoods burial packs a load of belly laughs, while Kevin McColley's piece about a bicycle-riding bear pedaling away from a hunter to safety is heartwarming. Mazer ends with a sobering list of statistics and sources of more information. (Short stories. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-385-32238-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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