Julia, 11, tells how she is sent for the summer term, in the dark days before WW II, to a bleak old house she barely remembers, where her father (Gerald) and stepmother (Trudl) now live. There, to her horror, angry voices from the past speak through her at unexpected moments—Joshua Harken, a 17th-century alchemist whose tragic end remains a mystery; her own parents, in the throes of their long-ago divorce. Julia feels abandoned, and with reason: her siblings are grown, her mother has a new family, and she's to be sent away to school in the fall. It's not clear why her parents decided that she should attend the odd little school in Dune for a single term. Her father is not even here: he's in Lucerne to rehearse his new play, leaving Julia with a collection of violent, terrifying plays to read—like Dr. Faustus and The Duchess of Malfi. Trudl, involved in her own tragedy (Gerald married her simply to rescue her from Austria; her love for him is unrequited), inexplicably assigns Julia a gloomy, distant bedroom and is abstracted and anxious at the rare times when she returns from her enigmatic errands. There's a fair amount of interesting material here, but it isn't blended into a coherent whole. Julia's frightening possession is never explained; the Harken mystery is left half unravelled; and Trudl, whose real troubles are more urgent than Julia's gothic horrors, remains a minor character, her future beyond Julia's ken. This gifted, prolific author does evoke a spooky setting and convey the unease before the war; but the novel falls far short of her best work.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1989
ISBN: 0385299753
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1989
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
