This slim, posthumously published volume of medieval folktales not only serves as a monument to a gifted storyteller, but may well entice young readers to check out the once-popular Andrew Lang and Howard Pyle collections currently gathering dust on library shelves. Bolger sandwiches five tales between rousing accounts of Tristan’s early exploits and heroic death: Childe Rowland’s journey to the Elf King’s Dark Tower, “Iron John,” Tam Lin in a version that highlights the courage of his lady love Burd Janet, and two more that feature strong-minded royal wives. A lavish use of commas gives the prose the cadence of an oral rendition; modern turns of phrase (says a huntsman, “Fair stranger, what’s the problem?”) enliven the language without vitiating its high formal tone. Lang’s dark, woodcut-like ink drawings, many of which rest on wide borders of Celtic lacework, add a traditional feel that harks back to Pyle. Fair speeches, brave deeds, humorous twists, and wondrous magic fill center stage here, edging overt violence into the wings. Offer these rich stories to readers who look upon the Arthurian canon’s gorier episodes with distaste. (Folktales. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-88776-614-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2003
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
This profoundly moving story is all the more impressive because of its basis in fact. Although the story is fictionalized, its most harrowing aspects are true: “Today, more than two hundred million children between the ages of five and seventeen are ‘economically active’ in the world.” Iqbal Masih, a real boy, was murdered at age 13. His killers have never been found, but it’s believed that a cartel of ruthless people overseeing the carpet industry, the “Carpet Mafia,” killed him. The carpet business in Pakistan is the backdrop for the story of a young Pakistani girl in indentured servitude to a factory owner, who also “owned” the bonds of 14 children, indentured by their own families for sorely needed money. Fatima’s first-person narrative grips from the beginning and inspires with every increment of pride and resistance the defiant Iqbal instills in his fellow workers. Although he was murdered for his efforts, Iqbal’s life was not in vain; the accounts here of children who were liberated through his and activist adults’ efforts will move readers for years to come. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85445-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2003
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