A little stocking-stuffer of a book about a boy coming to terms with his father's death. David Connor's father, screwdriver in hand, dies abruptly before dawn on Christmas morning while assembling David's new bike. David trashes the shiny green bike, his belief in Santa Claus, and his six-year-old's love of Christmas in the fury of his grief. It takes ten years, the steady presence of Mr. Paul—an elderly neighbor who is a surrogate grandfather for David—his mother's remarriage, the birth of a half-brother, and several secret visits from David's departed dad (who is grayer, fatter, and fuzzier each time he materializes, until by book's end he bears a startling resemblance to the defrocked Saint Nick) for David to transcend his anger, grief, and fear of being disloyal to his father's memory. In a debut that seems aimed at the silver screen, or at least toward an annual December showing on television, Hutchinson never milks the sentiment inherent in the plot; the writing is crisp and matter-of-fact, and he has created some truly endearing characters, particularly Mr. Paul, whose boyhood encounter with Teddy Roosevelt was the defining moment of his life. Written as a reminiscence, the book has more appeal for adults than for children—not exactly The Christmas Box audience, but those who enjoy miracle stories with more literary value and fewer tearstains. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-689-81158-6
Page Count: 119
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997
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
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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