by Janet Taylor Lisle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1996
The fourth and final book in the Investigators of the Unknown series turns intriguingly on the way ``people never seem to like each other in equal amounts.'' Poco (who talks to animals) loves a robin who cares only for Juliette, the old cat who used to belong to their neighbor, Angela, whisked away to Mexico for a year by her high-powered parents. Georgina, the scientific one, misses her terribly, but when Angela returns, unrecognizably tall and aloof, she rebuffs Georgina as if she ``were a small, bothersome gnat.'' Are the disturbing changes in Angela caused by her own lopsided longing for a distant mother, or has she been abducted by aliens in transparent flying marbles? Angela later vanishes and claims an alien kidnapping (or did she just run away?), and Juliette passes on to another world, maybe in more ways than one. Lisle (A Message from the Match Girl, 1995, etc.) gives readers so much to ponder that those seeking a UFO encounter will be easily distracted by the more intricate trappings of human intercourse. A thoughtful, resonantly written puzzle. (Fiction. 9- 11)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-531-09541-X
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996
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by Janet Taylor Lisle & illustrated by David Frankland
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by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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by Valerie Worth & illustrated by Natalie Babbitt
by Candace Fleming ; illustrated by Mark Fearing ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2017
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that...
Antics both instructive and embarrassing ensue after a mysterious package left on their doorstep brings a Founding Father into the lives of two modern children.
Summoned somehow by what looks for all the world like an old-time crystal radio set, Ben Franklin turns out to be an amiable sort. He is immediately taken in hand by 7-year-old Olive for a tour of modern wonders—early versions of which many, from electrical appliances in the kitchen to the Illinois town’s public library and fire department, he justly lays claim to inventing. Meanwhile big brother Nolan, 10, tags along, frantic to return him to his own era before either their divorced mom or snoopy classmate Tommy Tuttle sees him. Fleming, author of Ben Franklin’s Almanac (2003) (and also, not uncoincidentally considering the final scene of this outing, Our Eleanor, 2005), mixes history with humor as the great man dispenses aphorisms and reminiscences through diverse misadventures, all of which end well, before vanishing at last. Following a closing, sequel-cueing kicker (see above) she then separates facts from fancies in closing notes, with print and online leads to more of the former. To go with spot illustrations of the evidently all-white cast throughout the narrative, Fearing incorporates change-of-pace sets of sequential panels for Franklin’s biographical and scientific anecdotes. Final illustrations not seen.
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that adds flavor without weight. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93406-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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by Candace Fleming ; illustrated by Eric Rohmann
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by Candace Fleming ; illustrated by Eric Rohmann
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