It seems only appropriate that death has not brought an end to Bellairs's career; and, happily, this posthumous collaboration has less of a thrown-together feel than his last few books. Having lost most of her magic in The Letter, The Witch and The Ring (1977), Florence Zimmerman travels back in time to recover it, taking along her friend Rose Rita Pottinger (14). Together, the two rescue a Pennsylvania Dutch family from an evil sorcerer, uncover an old chest of Revolutionary War gold, and activate a crystal ball that restores Mrs. Zimmerman's powers—not, of course, without negotiating plenty of cryptic instructions, apparitions, lurking evils, spells, and narrow escapes, plus a slavering demon or two. Though the deliciously ghastly climax suddenly comes to a halt so that the sorcerer can rehearse his motives and life story, the plot generally develops in a smooth and coherent fashion, driven along by a pair of active female characters. Still more stories are to come. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-8037-1370-3
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This ``Complete Guide for Young Forecasters'' consists of a meandering description of weather and climate, together with experiments and activities to illustrate weather principles. McVey suggests that anyone can be ``weatherwise'': able to predict weather by paying attention to natural patterns and figuring out how they work. As examples, she briefly describes an Inca boy who bases his prediction of a rainy growing season on the size of Tacarari spider eggs; a boy in the Sahara who is alerted to a coming sirocco by the strange yellow of the sky; and an elderly Puerto Rican whose aching joints presage a hurricane. Unfortunately, there's little effort to explain how these ``natural observations'' are based in science. In addition, readers hear about ``Molly Molecule'' drifting to earth, then learn how to read a weather map and how to make a hydrometer, terrarium, and weather vane. A hodgepodge of facts, stories and activities, presented in a colloquial tone and adding up to a less-than-satisfying introduction to the topic. Glossary; index. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-56341-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1991
The effects of the simplest weather fronts and the clouds associated with them throughout the year. Warm and cold fronts are shown using the symbols made familiar by TV meteorologists; a handy cloud-classification chart shows the shape and height of common clouds. Each page includes a carefully selected photo of the sky and cloud cover, a vertical cross-section drawing of the clouds with their height in both feet and miles, and a line drawing showing the fronts. The photos were taken in an area of Maine called ``thunderstorm alley.'' An attractive, useful guide. Glossary; brief index. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 15, 1991
ISBN: 0-374-38261-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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