In three soft-boiled capers a narcoleptic teenage sleuth braves sneering punks, bad-news bombshells, beatings (including one from a suspect’s little sister) and more to get clients out of tough fixes. Or, sometimes, not. Totally serious and tightly focused whether the MacGuffin be a (supposedly) stolen bicycle, a kidnapped hamster or a missing member of the school’s Academic All-Stars Trivia Tournament Team, Jack resolutely follows trails of clues wherever they may lead—even if it means methodically going through the school’s garbage, getting chucked into the river or waking up in the hospital after suddenly dozing off during stressful encounters. Refreshingly, in the final case Jack himself comes out the loser when he falls victim to an elaborate sting—his revenge, if any, deferred, perhaps, to a sequel. With its tongue-in-cheek Raymond Chandler–esque first-person narration (“I was supposed to be minding my own business. So, of course, I stuck around”) laced with gleefully clichéd slang, this is perfect for Chet Gecko grads. (Mystery. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55453-364-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: KCP Fiction/Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2009
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION
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Thirteen-year-old Alexis has been “banished” (her word) by her mother, who lives in San Diego, to International Falls, Minnesota, where her father is the foremost authority on the bald eagle. He heads a small team who are banding eaglets and researching the eagles’ habitat. Alexis is immediately involved and learns quickly, though it’s difficult work and complicated further by the swarms of mosquitoes and hot weather. She resents her father’s authority and the team’s respect for him. In spite of this, she becomes fascinated with the birds and rashly decides to remove a fish lure from an eagle’s nest situated on a nearby island. Though successful in climbing the tree, she lifts an eaglet out of the nest and drops it. Then she loses the paddle to the canoe and finds herself stranded on an island with an injured eaglet. For two days she struggles with a storm, a visiting bear, and hunger. She manages to feed the eaglet and herself through fashioning a crude fishing rod. She finds shelter: an abandoned house on the island obviously not used for years. Surprisingly, it is a bat refuge, full of bat dung, with hundreds of bats returning in the evening. Knowing the eaglet must have assistance, in desperation, she sets the house on fire and is rescued. Throughout these difficulties, she finally allows herself to think of her little brother, who has recently died from cancer. Working through her grief, she realizes her father’s actions, which she so resented at the time, were a result of a grief as deep as her own. The ending is a bit pat, with the eagle flown to a healing center and her parents beginning to talk to each other. The tale moves along well and will be enjoyed particularly by readers of survivalist stories. The author’s note describes her hands-on research with eagle experts and includes several Web sites where naturalists can learn more. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0665-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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Stories about the author's childhood adventures growing up in a small town, including one in which a delinquent dog tangles with a skunk, and two in which eminently satisfying tricks are played on pompous bullies. Others involve youthful disasters, accident-prone friends, eccentric townsfolk, camp-outs, and crazy schemes. McManus is a sort of Dave Barry for kids. His stories are not merely amusing: They are laugh-out-loud, stomach-clutching, tears-rolling-down-your-cheeks hilarious. Factual or not, the names of people display a backwoods Dickensian humor, from Rancid Crabtree, the old woodsman, to a friend, Retch Sweeney, and his two kid brothers, Erful and Verman, and to Miss Goosehart, a teacher at Delmore Blight Grade School. The humor is often broad, but its expression is matter-of-fact; McManus writes for those with good vocabularies who can read between the lines. Really comic stories that also treat this audience with intelligence are something of a rarity; this collection is as welcome as lemonade in the desert. (Short stories. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8050-4662-3
Page Count: 133
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1996
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION
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