A creative, if somewhat underdeveloped, adventure.
An intuitive young heroine visits the world of Cloudscape in this middle-grade prequel.
Matilda, a girl from Vietnam adopted by an American family, has a special gift. Whenever there is danger lurking, she is alerted in the form of a stomachache. These premonitions can be extremely valuable, as when she saves a friend from a venomous snake. But sometimes the aches seem to have no source, as when Matilda is practicing jumps with her beloved horse, Merry. When her family visits Oregon’s Rose Festival, Matilda ignores her misgiving about riding the Ferris wheel—a decision that turns into a calamity after her seat belt snaps at the top of the ride. The next thing Matilda knows, she has awakened in an unfamiliar world. A kindly woman named Mrs. O’Carolan explains that she was rescued from her fall by the residents of Cloudscape, a fantastical community floating more than 6,000 feet above the ground. During her first day, Matilda is introduced to a young girl named Kiara, who was rescued from the same carnival ride. The two begin the assimilation process and soon settle into a routine on Cloudscape, where rescued individuals from all over the globe study weather patterns, collect useful items from passing airplanes, and craft cloud formations for the people below. But unlike the residents who appear resigned to remaining in the clouds, Matilda and Kiara harbor a desire to return to their families and lives on Earth. In this prequel to Cloudscape: Charlie’s Story (2016), Courtney’s choice of language is simple yet effective in her illustration of the world, which is imaginative and full of whimsical details. Unfortunately, the lack of clarity concerning certain elements tests suspension of disbelief. For instance, it is never quite clear why Cloudscape’s incredible technologies stop short of being able to return people home. Additionally, the lack of urgency surrounding the central conflict causes the narrative to rely on episodic, quickly resolved dangers for excitement. On the other hand, the authenticity of Matilda’s feelings (dutifully recorded in her journal) is a winning quality.
A creative, if somewhat underdeveloped, adventure.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9967059-5-0
Page Count: 189
Publisher: JN Courtney Publications
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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