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BABY

Name: BABY
Author: Joseph A. Stirt
ISBN: 0-88282-111-3

by Joseph A. Stirt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1992

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What happens to a premature infant in an anonymous hospital's neonatal intensive-care unit when modern medicine is relentlessly applied. Born too early, Carrie Stirt rapidly deteriorates when infections invade her body. The subsequent treatment—powerful antibiotics; surgery to remove a section of her bowel and then more surgery to reconnect it; countless painful procedures, risky tests, and 27 blood transfusions—save her life but at an unknown cost to her future health. The description here of the first two months of Carrie's life, when her survival was highly questionable, is of special interest because the author, Carrie's father, is himself a physician at the hospital: Though part of the system, he has no real control over what is happening to his daughter. Nor does Carrie's mother, a former ICU nurse; moreover, the Stirts' medical background, which might seem like an advantage, actually has its disadvantages, for it makes the couple particularly aware of the terrible risks to their child posed by modern medical techniques. Decisions are out of the Stirts' control, and there is little they can do but watch and wait. The tension of waiting builds on the page through the inclusion of day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour, reports and comments, apparently taken verbatim from the infant's chart. Stirt interprets these records, reading into them the motives and reasoning of the doctors and nurses who made them, and he imparts his own fears about their implications for his daughter's safety. An afterword reveals that Carrie, now eight, appears to be a normal third-grader (although deaf in one ear), but that the long-term consequences of her early exposure to toxic drugs and radiation are still unknown. A touching human drama presented with scientific expertise that makes frighteningly clear the helplessness of patients—as well as their families—once the power of modern medicine is unleashed.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-88282-111-3

Page Count: 314

Publisher: New Horizon

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.