by Joan Donaldson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2009
Foreigners are coming to 16-year-old Viney Walker’s home in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. Arriving from England in 1880 to establish Rugby, a Christian Social Community where young men hope to buy land and be treated equally, these flatlanders are grading new roads, trampling her wildflowers and luring her pretty sister Lizzie into town. But as much as Viney loves her mountain way of life, especially her weaving, she is drawn to Charlie Breckenridge, a handsome English man with gentian blue eyes. The jacket copy likens this historical romance to Jane Austen, and it is funny, poignant and always centered on whether or not Viney and Charlie will get together. Viney and her mountain ridge are beautifully realized, the prose full of well-researched details of flora and fauna, though a bit heavy handed with similes. The first-person point of view is just right for getting into the mind of this homespun girl with dirt under her fingernails and grit in her spirit. Readers will come to love feisty Viney and cheer her on. (Historical fiction. 10 & up)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2129-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
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by Paul Fleischman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1993
Using a montage of characters in the manner of Spoon River Anthology, a fine novelist and poet offers 60 vignettes from 16 contrasting individuals who describe experiences from Fort Sumter to Bull Run. Coming from both North and South in equal numbers, the narrators include a colonel and a general (the only historical figure here); a Mississippi slave who hopes the state of Virginia will offer a chance for her to escape her master and for a free black man who passes as white to join an Ohio regiment; a southern matriarch who prays for the survival of her daughters' husbands and a Minnesota Irish lass who, in the end, mourns the death of a brother who ran away to war to escape their abusive father; a fifer boy and a rough Arkansan who's in the cavalry because his passion is horses; a photojournalist; and an ironical coachman, who drives congressmen and their wives out from Washington to sip champagne and view the battle. Bringing a poet's skill to crafting a unique and believable voice for each, Fleischman selects telling incidents to reveal character and to evoke the early course of the war and its impact on ordinary people—some beginning with dreams of glory, all forced to endure the grim reality. He also suggests the possibility of staging the work or performing it as "readers' theater"—a demanding endeavor that could be well worth the effort. An unusual, compelling look at the meaning of war, the Civil War in particular. Maps and illustrations not seen. (Fiction. 10+)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-021446-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992
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by Skila Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2014
A promising debut.
The horrors of the Guatemalan civil war are filtered through the eyes of a boy coming of age.
Set in Chopán in 1981, this verse novel follows the life of Carlos, old enough to feed the chickens but not old enough to wring their necks as the story opens. Carlos’ family and other villagers are introduced in early poems, including Santiago Luc who remembers “a time when there were no soldiers / driving up in jeeps, holding / meetings, making / laws, scattering / bullets into the trees, / hunting guerillas.” On an errand for his mother when soldiers attack, Carlos makes a series of decisions that ultimately save his life but leave him doubting his manliness and bravery. An epilogue of sorts helps tie the main narrative to the present, and the book ends on a hopeful note. In her debut, Brown has chosen an excellent form for exploring the violence and loss of war, but at times, stylistic decisions (most notably attempts at concrete poetry) appear to trump content. While some of the individual poems may be difficult for readers to follow and the frequent references to traditional masculinity may strike some as patriarchal, the use of Spanish is thoughtful, as are references to local flora and fauna. The overall effect is a moving introduction to a subject seldom covered in fiction for youth.
A promising debut. (glossary, author Q&A) (Verse/historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6516-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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