This book should have done less with its plot and more with its heart; interesting avenues remain unexplored. (Historical...
A runaway fights injustice on a train ride from New Orleans to Chicago.
It’s 1923, and 13-year-old Bobby Lee Claremont, a white boy, has cleaned out the poor box of the Catholic orphanage where he lives and made his escape north, hoping to take up with Chicago’s gangs and live a life of criminal ease. The train is also carrying the body of a nightclub owner who died under mysterious circumstances, as well as the man’s widow and baby boy. Bobby Lee is drawn to the widow, who reminds him of his own single mother. However, she’s guarded by a set of toughs, and it turns out that the leader of a black jazz orchestra traveling in the colored coaches has ties to her as well. Bobby sets out to unravel the mystery as the train chugs north. Astonishingly—and unbelievably—he accomplishes this in the 24-hour journey, mostly due to the willingness of every other character to spill secrets to an adolescent boy. It’s far more talk than action, and it’s not easy to keep the hired-muscle characters or the story straight. Two young black boys have roles in the plot, and Mobley tackles Jim Crow laws and racial passing straightforwardly, although somewhat anachronistically. (Black strangers are more open and accepting of Bobby Lee than feels accurate.)
This book should have done less with its plot and more with its heart; interesting avenues remain unexplored. (Historical fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3781-8
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
A delicious confection and much more: it shows that the human heart is delicate, that it matters, and that it must be...
One strange afternoon, 10-year-old Micah Tuttle finds out that magic is real.
Micah always thought Grandpa Ephraim’s wild stories of the centuries-old Circus Mirandus were spun solely for his amusement. But when his dying grandfather writes a letter to the “Lightbender,” hoping to call in the miracle the magician had promised him as a boy, Micah learns the stories were true, and the appearance of Ms. Chintzy, the circus’ cantankerous parrot messenger, clinches the deal. Happily, Micah finds a loyal if somewhat challenging friend to help him track down the elusive light-bending magician: the magic-leery, science-minded Jenny Mendoza. Their budding rapport is nuanced and complex, a refreshing illustration of how absolute like-mindedness is not a prerequisite for friendship. On one level, the book is a fantastical circus romp, with fortunetelling vultures and “a wallaby that could burp the Greek alphabet.” On another, it’s both serious and thick with longing: Micah’s ache for the companionship of his once-vital guardian-grandfather; Grandpa Ephraim’s boyhood yearning for his absent father, as fleshed out in flashbacks; the circus founders’ desire to keep enchantment alive in a world where “faith is such a fragile thing.”
A delicious confection and much more: it shows that the human heart is delicate, that it matters, and that it must be handled with care. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-525-42843-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Chaotic, heartwarming, and emotionally satisfying with high stakes that keep readers invested.
Isn’t it supposed to be a good thing to learn you’re the lost heir?
Cordelia adores her family—her fellow triplets, Giles and Rosalind; their older half brother, Connall; her mother; and her mother’s friend who looks after the goats—but their secret castle in the woods is claustrophobic. She longs to turn into an animal and explore, but she’s promised her overprotective mother that she won’t wander off without supervision. Rosalind has her mock sword fighting, and Giles has his music, but Cordelia has only the desperate urge to fly free with her animal shape-shifting powers. Her dream of freedom twists into a nightmare when angry people bearing arms arrive at the castle demanding the war-torn kingdom’s heir. The triplets escape into the woods when the others are taken captive, shocked by uncovered family secrets. Cordelia, learning more of her past, now has her own secrets. It’s one thing to squabble with Giles and Rosalind, but will they forgive her for being as parsimonious with the truth as their mother has been? Ultimately, saving the world requires an unbearable sacrifice and reveals that even loving family members make dreadful mistakes. Though Cordelia and her siblings are primarily sketched in lightly around their traits and hobbies, their emotional journeys are rich, believable, and fulfilling. The triplets are light-skinned, Connall is brown, and the world is racially diverse and has a mixed-gender military.
Chaotic, heartwarming, and emotionally satisfying with high stakes that keep readers invested. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0637-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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