Zena fans take heed: Yolen and Harris draw a minor figure from old Greek tales front and center for an edifying, as well as action-filled, encounter with quarreling gods, monsters, rival Amazons, and—ugh—men. To save her mother’s life and throne, teenaged princess Hippolyta spirits her newly born brother off to his father, the arrogant Trojan king Laomedon, in hopes of gathering military aid. Instead, she’s lashed to a headland for a sea monster to eat. Enter Laomedon’s other son, chatty nine-year-old Tithonus, to free her, and to accompany her on a subsequent mission to the ancient, dead city where the Amazons had originally been forced to become warriors after their men were all slain in a squabble between Artemis and Apollo. The authors energetically carry their irritable, warlike protagonist and her garrulous companion (Tithonus: “I knew we’d have been better off with a chariot. A person doesn’t get cranky in a chariot”) past one threat after another, as well as Hippolyta’s firm conviction that all males are hateful. Ultimately, she even defends Tithonus from bloodthirsty Artemis, and learns that her own father is Ares, presented here as a wise, big-brotherly sort who pops up repeatedly in various guises to save Hippolyta’s bacon. As in the “Young Heroes” series opener, Odysseus in the Serpent Maze (2001), the level of explicit violence may be low but the action is nonstop, fleshed out with accurate details from both history and myth that will give readers a taste of what the classical stories themselves have to offer. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-028736-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2002
In the last of a trilogy, sea-lion Daniel au Fond achieves his heart's desires—gathering representatives of the 13 tribes of seagoing mammals, and finding Pacifica, where legend says his kind and humans once lived harmoniously together—only to discover that his quest has just begun. Constantly recalling his previous adventures (Beachmaster, 1988; Wavebender, 1990), Daniel evades oil slicks and other pollution; rescues some fellow sea mammals from captivity; and discovers, on the back of an ancient turtle, a map that leads him to a partly sunken island. In a vision, Daniel learns that his kind had once been captive even here, but freed themselves in a bloody long-ago rebellion; he then realizes that it's up to him to teach humans to respect all life. The author's indictment of our brutality to animals and of destructive environmental practices is on the mark, but the plot's a ritualistic mix of convenient turns and token conflict. The anthropomorphism of the various seals, sea otters, cetaceans, etc., further undercuts the immediacy of the message. Daniel's fans are likely to be disappointed by the vaguely articulated resolution. For a better-written, more compelling fantasy that considers the same themes, see Ruth Park's My Sister Sif (p. 675). (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-8050-1285-0
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1991
Driven by a slim promise of safety plus the hope of finding his older brother Mang, 11-year-old orphan Muong Vithy makes his way across hundreds of miles of war-torn Cambodia to the Thai border, relying on his wits and the kindness of strangers to stay alive, evading the dreaded Khmer Rouge, and finding at last a chance for a new life in a distant country. Having passed through modern Phnom Penh and ancient Angkor Wat and finding both equally haunted, Vithy reaches Thailand. There, he meets Betty Harris, an Australian doctor, and begins to search for his brother, the last member of his family seen alive. Finally giving Mang up for dead, Vithy agrees to go with Harris to Australia—where he joyfully finds his brother awaiting him at the Sydney airport. The atrocities and privations that make Wartski's Boat to Nowhere (1980) and other refugee stories so searing are kept offstage here; this is a milder narrative (with something of a fairy-tale ending), but Baillie keeps the plot moving and his characters are deftly drawn and believable. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-670-84381-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1992
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