Cheyenne, ten, and his brother, Joaquin, five, hoard food. Before she abandoned them entirely, their mother neglected them, so Cheyenne learned very young to stash food—when it was available. In their Aunt Mandy’s custody, things briefly improve as they get to know their extended (but not very helpful) family. Narrator Cheyenne, never letting down his guard, always keenly observes the adults around him, gleaning what information he can, although filtered through his child mind, it’s sometimes humorously misinterpreted. When Mandy has a stroke, the children are left to fend for themselves. Then, as one unbelievable challenge is piled on top of another, at times the children’s burden seems almost fantastical. Is it possible that no one in a small town would notice the small children’s plight, hiding out in a van and foraging through Dumpsters for a freezing month or that the hospital would discharge brain-injured Mandy to their sole custody, setting up a contrived though satisfying conclusion? Yet resourceful Cheyenne’s authentic voice is lovable enough to make this a worthy if at times implausible read. (discussion questions) (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59955-407-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Bonneville Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Curtis debuts with a ten-year-old's lively account of his teenaged brother's ups and downs. Ken tries to make brother Byron out to be a real juvenile delinquent, but he comes across as more of a comic figure: getting stuck to the car when he kisses his image in a frozen side mirror, terrorized by his mother when she catches him playing with matches in the bathroom, earning a shaved head by coming home with a conk. In between, he defends Ken from a bully and buries a bird he kills by accident. Nonetheless, his parents decide that only a long stay with tough Grandma Sands will turn him around, so they all motor from Michigan to Alabama, arriving in time to witness the infamous September bombing of a Sunday school. Ken is funny and intelligent, but he gives readers a clearer sense of Byron's character than his own and seems strangely unaffected by his isolation and harassment (for his odd look—he has a lazy eye—and high reading level) at school. Curtis tries to shoehorn in more characters and subplots than the story will comfortably bear—as do many first novelists—but he creates a well-knit family and a narrator with a distinct, believable voice. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-32175-9
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ultimately, Burg’s lyrical prose will make readers think about the common ground among peoples, despite inevitable...
Melding the colors of heartache and loss with painterly strokes, Burg creates a vivid work of art about a girl grieving for her recently deceased mother against a Third World backdrop.
Clare is not speaking to her father. She has vowed never to speak to him again. Which could be tough, since the pair just touched down in Malawi. There, Clare finds herself struck by the contrast between American wealth and the relatively bare-bones existence of her new friends. Drowning in mourning and enraged at the emptiness of grief, Clare is a hurricane of early-adolescent emotions. Her anger toward her father crackles like lightning in the treetops. She finds purpose, though, in teaching English to the younger children, which leads her out of grief. Burg’s imagery shimmers. “The girl talks to her mother in a language that sounds like fireworks, full of bursts and pops. She holds her hand over her mouth giggling.... She probably has so many minutes with her mother, she can’t even count them.” Her realization of the setting and appreciation for the Malawian people are so successful that they compensate for Clare's wallowing, which sometimes feels contrived.
Ultimately, Burg’s lyrical prose will make readers think about the common ground among peoples, despite inevitable disparities. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: June 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-385-73471-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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