Eleven-year-old Archie habitually protects and insulates little brother Oggie, who is overcome with uncontrollable shivering when frightened, and given to hiding from the school bully in a closet. Oggie seems all the more vulnerable as the brothers boomerang between Mom and Dad’s two homes, which they refer to as Jupiter and Saturn. As part of his strategy for distracting Oggie on really bad days, would-be author Archie makes up an episodic story about the “Mystery of the Mole People.” When Oggie’s cherished red wallet (stuffed with his savings) is stolen by a tough gang called the Night Riders, Archie unwisely promises to get it back. The opportunity presents itself when Oggie attracts the gang’s admiring attention after he accidentally foils a late-night hold-up, holding a gun on the criminal till police arrive. Archie becomes imprudently entangled with the gang as he plans to retrieve Oggie’s wallet, leading to a dénouement during which six-year-old Oggie drives the getaway car as the brothers narrowly escape the gang. His ingenious driving technique involves alternating between looking out the windshield and pressing the accelerator. The conclusion finds Oggie in possession of his wallet while Archie the writer realizes that “there always needs to be a little tragedy at the end of a good story,” whether it is the irreversible death of a beloved character or the deep-down knowledge that his parents will never reconcile. Lacking the whimsical magic of The Lost Flower Children (1999), this is nevertheless a solidly readable title for middle graders. The theme of children coping with lives that have become random and unpredictable following the breakup of their parents, is given freshness by two lovably engaging main characters, humorous narration, and a slightly screwball plot that (although improbable) steams forward with real tension and danger. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-23394-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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