by Joe R. Lansdale ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011
Initially, readers find Jack grappling with the loss of his parents, who have succumbed to the ravages of the Dust Bowl....
Three orphans with nothing to lose embark on a road trip that reaches epic proportions.
Initially, readers find Jack grappling with the loss of his parents, who have succumbed to the ravages of the Dust Bowl. Lansdale quickly shifts to a light, folksy tone as Jack meets up with Jane and her younger brother, Tony. Jane wants to “look around first, learn a little about life” before becoming a journalist. So why not set out on a real quest? Together they steal a car from a dead man but are soon kidnapped by bank-robbing gangsters. After overhearing the men’s intention to kill an accomplice named Strangler, Jane convinces the boys that warning him would be the noble thing to do. Jack and Tony go along on the strength of Jane’s prowess as a storyteller—or liar, as some would have it. This “Jack tale” is really Jane’s story; Jack is little more than the chronicler of an episodic adventure that stretches credulity as the trio heads across East Texas. Jane’s stories get them in and out of jams as they ride the rails with hoboes, are befriended by the likes of Pretty Boy Floyd and are hoodwinked into forced labor by a corrupt sheriff, before reaching a carnival, where the action culminates in a scene of comic violence.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-73931-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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by Marie Lu ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 29, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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BOOK TO SCREEN
by Jack Gantos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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