Strip the cannibalism, the clumsy, plot-driven characterization and the dopey names, and this could be quite a sweet story
A debut that reads like an early draft of a successful story of mild middle school drama.
Ferrell Savage has been friends for years with neighbor Mary Vittles, but now that they are in middle school, he feels the relationship changing. Sweet, loyal Ferrell doesn’t mind Mary’s tendency to throw around SAT words or her ferocious competitiveness. That Mary’s entry in the Big Sled Race loses to a newcomer’s is bad enough, but that Ferrell’s spectacular wipeout garners him the most attention of all strains things further. That would be a perfectly fine premise for a book, but unfortunately, it’s not the premise for this book. No, this book’s premise is that Ferrell’s great-great-uncle was an infamous (real-life) cannibal and Mary’s ancestor his victim (note their names—get it? Get it?).That’s his secret, but he doesn’t know it yet. (Readers do, thanks to the cover, and they have to endure a lot of obvious misdirection before Ferrell learns.) Complicating matters is the sled-racing newcomer, even more competitive than Mary, who threatens to air their terrible secret if they don’t agree to a rematch so winning will focus all attention on him. How does he know about Ferrell’s relative? Why does he care so much about it? Readers never learn. Tendentiously cute names (there’s also Bruce Littledood, Ms. Goodkind, Ms. Bland, Mr. Comfy and so on) distract more than they amuse.
Strip the cannibalism, the clumsy, plot-driven characterization and the dopey names, and this could be quite a sweet story . (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-6017-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
