Twelve-year-old Dawn spends an anxious summer with rural Virginia relatives in this tale of secrets and secret places set in the 1950s. Down from DC while her mother recuperates from joint replacement, Dawn practices her curve ball against the barn, follows the exploits of her hero, fellow pitcher Camilo Pascual, and hangs out with Charlotte Williams, a deacon's peppery daughter, and quiet Delbert, from the “colored camp.” The three have a private, weed-hidden spot they have dubbed Planet Kid. There are clouds in these sunny childhood skies, however—Charlotte hints that her father is not one to spare the rod, but the bruises and welts that Dawn begins to notice on Charlotte's mother and other family members point toward a harsher truth. Dawn's suspicions are confirmed when she sees Mr. Williams knock one of his sons down, and later finds the boy, beaten senseless, hidden away from his father in a concealed barn room. It's an open secret, but as everyone but Dawn understands, the impoverished Williamses are caught between a rock and a hard place; when Dawn breaks her promise to Charlotte not to tell, even her gentle Great Aunt changes the subject. At summer's end Dawn determinedly sells her prized baseball card collection, sending the money to Mrs. Williams as an incentive to move out with the children—a faint hope, as even her loving parents warn. There are no easy solutions here; but with her baseball prowess and deep-rooted compassion, Dawn makes an admirable protagonist, backed by a diverse, sometimes entertainingly, quirky supporting cast. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8050-6065-0
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Year-round fun.
Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”
This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
If Rotten Ralph were a boy instead of a cat, he might be Joey, the hyperactive hero of Gantos's new book, except that Joey is never bad on purpose. In the first-person narration, it quickly becomes clear that he can't help himself; he's so wound up that he not only practically bounces off walls, he literally swallows his house key (which he wears on a string around his neck and which he pull back up, complete with souvenirs of the food he just ate). Gantos's straightforward view of what it's like to be Joey is so honest it hurts. Joey has been abandoned by his alcoholic father and, for a time, by his mother (who also drinks); his grandmother, just as hyperactive as he is, abuses Joey while he's in her care. One mishap after another leads Joey first from his regular classroom to special education classes and then to a special education school. With medication, counseling, and positive reinforcement, Joey calms down. Despite a lighthearted title and jacket painting, the story is simultaneously comic and horrific; Gantos takes readers right inside a human whirlwind where the ride is bumpy and often frightening, especially for Joey. But a river of compassion for the characters runs through the pages, not only for Joey but for his overextended mom and his usually patient, always worried (if only for their safety) teachers. Mature readers will find this harsh tale softened by unusual empathy and leavened by genuinely funny events. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-374-33664-4
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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