When Great-uncle Benson roars in on his motorcycle for a long visit, ten-year-old Rachel discovers a soul mate: he listens to her, cares about the things she cares about, and, like her, treats everyone, adult or child, with intelligent respect. He's disturbed, though, that Rachel's family doesn't have sit-down dinners—''How in the world can you have a family, if you don't have family dinner?'' Benson whips up a series of tempting concoctions, and Rachel persuades her parents, and her older brother and sister, to give the custom a try. Cutler infuses her story with the same friendly domestic air that Patricia Maclachlan brings to her writing. The characters here (with the notable exception of the Mrs. Malaprop of a housekeeper—``It's as plain as the nose on your plate'') aren't as eccentric as those in, say, Unclaimed Treasures (1984), but they're distinct and believable, with stories of their own. The experimental meal is a total failure, but the plot takes a gentle twist at the end when Benson, Rachel, and a group of friends and neighbors sit down together the next day over leftovers, proving that the sociability of family-style dinners can survive, even if not in a particular family. Caswell's precise soft-pencil illustrations are unusually perceptive and creatively staged to dramatize relationships. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-32267-8
Page Count: 117
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When Peter Harring (12), a legend in his own mind, kisses a mummy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a dare, he reactivates an ancient intrigue: He suddenly finds himself caught between a Pharaoh's daughter, Nephia, and Tachu, a semi-dead sorceress, both struggling for possession of a certain cat mummy buried behind an East Village townhouse. But Peter has help: a skeptical but willing friend; an intellectual younger sister; and a large, possessed dog, named (all too aptly) Pharaoh. The plot's constructed simply and set up heavily; Nephia arranges things so that Peter has little difficulty locating and recovering the cat (though sneaking it into the Met to reunite its remains with hers presents more of a challenge), while Tachu's mesmerizing apparition is no pushover either. A mild supernatural adventure with some comic moments. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 24, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-38033-3
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
When Danny's Pop goes back to the VA hospital with recurrent post-traumatic stress disorder, Danny discovers he's not quite as capable of caring for himself as he'd thought. The author of The Adventures of Boone Barnaby (1990) returns to the small town of San Puerco for another engaging, well-told tale of a young person with choices to make. Boone's friend Danny watches the coyotes who live nearby spurn every gift (rightly fearing poison), yet steal unhesitatingly; he sees the local pusher driving ever-fancier cars; he hears that the visiting soccer team has overwhelmed its opponents with intimidation and foul play. Still, fundamentally decent Danny takes his own path- -doing odd jobs, learning to accept freely offered gifts, spending what money he makes responsibly, and refusing to cheat, either in business (he's a born organizer) or on the playing field. Cottonwood makes his points in both obvious and subtle ways and buoys his story with an idiosyncratic, good-natured cast; with Danny's voracious, vividly described hunger (almost a running gag); and with a soccer game in which the winner is not the team with the highest score. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-590-45067-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
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