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
“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
If Rotten Ralph were a boy instead of a cat, he might be Joey, the hyperactive hero of Gantos's new book, except that Joey is never bad on purpose. In the first-person narration, it quickly becomes clear that he can't help himself; he's so wound up that he not only practically bounces off walls, he literally swallows his house key (which he wears on a string around his neck and which he pull back up, complete with souvenirs of the food he just ate). Gantos's straightforward view of what it's like to be Joey is so honest it hurts. Joey has been abandoned by his alcoholic father and, for a time, by his mother (who also drinks); his grandmother, just as hyperactive as he is, abuses Joey while he's in her care. One mishap after another leads Joey first from his regular classroom to special education classes and then to a special education school. With medication, counseling, and positive reinforcement, Joey calms down. Despite a lighthearted title and jacket painting, the story is simultaneously comic and horrific; Gantos takes readers right inside a human whirlwind where the ride is bumpy and often frightening, especially for Joey. But a river of compassion for the characters runs through the pages, not only for Joey but for his overextended mom and his usually patient, always worried (if only for their safety) teachers. Mature readers will find this harsh tale softened by unusual empathy and leavened by genuinely funny events. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-374-33664-4
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998
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