Dry.
A Quaker teen finds himself questioning his pacifist beliefs after he is exposed to the politics and violence of the French and Indian War in Pennsylvania.
Noble Butler has finished his cabinetry apprenticeship and is keen to get out from under his stern father’s thumb. He and his brother eagerly answer an ad written by Benjamin Franklin to join a wagon train taking supplies to the soldiers at Fort Cumberland. During the journey, Noble witnesses an Indian massacre and saves an injured trapper. Restless after his great adventure, he leaves the family farm and becomes a runner for Israel Pemberton, a wealthy Quaker who is intimately involved in brokering a peace agreement between the warring Pennsylvania colonists and the Delaware. At Pemberton’s, he becomes part of the treaty process and realizes that the Delaware’s violence rises from their unfair treatment by the government. After concluding that the Quaker nonviolent ways are best, he realizes his dream to become a cabinetmaker. Based on real people and true events, this narrative is straightforward historical fiction with little nuance. The characters’ motivations and the story’s central themes of tolerance and peace are telegraphed obviously and often, and Noble makes several mentions of the titular snake fence, a heavy-handed metaphor for his indecision about the future.
Dry. (author’s note, discussion questions) (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-937768-13-3
Page Count: 235
Publisher: QuakerBooks
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
Eleven-year-old Griffin Bing is “the man with the plan.” If something needs doing, Griffin carefully plans a fix and his best friend Ben usually gets roped in as assistant. When the town council ignores his plan for a skate park on the grounds of the soon-to-be demolished Rockford House, Griffin plans a camp-out in the house. While there, he discovers a rare Babe Ruth baseball card. His family’s money worries are suddenly a thing of the past, until unscrupulous collectables dealer S. Wendell Palomino swindles him. Griffin and Ben plan to snatch the card back with a little help. Pet-lover Savannah whispers the blood-thirsty Doberman. Rock-climber “Pitch” takes care of scaling the house. Budding-actor Logan distracts the nosy neighbor. Computer-expert Melissa hacks Palomino’s e-mail and the house alarm. Little goes according to plan, but everything turns out all right in this improbable but fun romp by the prolific and always entertaining Korman. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-439-90344-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2008
Ordinary kids in an extraordinary setting: still a recipe for bright achievements and belly laughs.
Rejoice! 25 years later, Wayside School is still in session, and the children in Mrs. Jewls’ 30th-floor classroom haven’t changed a bit.
The surreal yet oddly educational nature of their misadventures hasn’t either. There are out-and-out rib ticklers, such as a spelling lesson featuring made-up words and a determined class effort to collect 1 million nail clippings. Additionally, mean queen Kathy steps through a mirror that turns her weirdly nice and she discovers that she likes it, a four-way friendship survives a dumpster dive after lost homework, and Mrs. Jewls makes sure that a long-threatened “Ultimate Test” allows every student to show off a special talent. Episodic though the 30 new chapters are, there are continuing elements that bind them—even to previous outings, such as the note to an elusive teacher Calvin has been carrying since Sideways Stories From Wayside School (1978) and finally delivers. Add to that plenty of deadpan dialogue (“Arithmetic makes my brain numb,” complains Dameon. “That’s why they’re called ‘numb-ers,’ ” explains D.J.) and a wild storm from the titular cloud that shuffles the school’s contents “like a deck of cards,” and Sachar once again dishes up a confection as scrambled and delicious as lunch lady Miss Mush’s improvised “Rainbow Stew.” Diversity is primarily conveyed in the illustrations.
Ordinary kids in an extraordinary setting: still a recipe for bright achievements and belly laughs. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-296538-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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