A lightweight but kind-hearted guide full of cheery and self-affirming advice for young girls. In a conversational text that is full of asides and funny musings, Harlan offers advice and questions. ``Could she be your hero?'' appears in a box, followed by a paragraph on a specific woman, e.g., Julie Croteau, the first woman to play college baseball, or Donna Karan, the fashion designer. Other boxes offer little-known history, facts, and points to ponder, while there are also sensible and inspired ideas on fun, fashion, friends, and the future—``Spend time shaping your LIFE, not your body.'' A few pages ask readers to write in their thoughts on a topic, while other times statements just hang meaningfully in the air. Perhaps the most bemusing is the chapter on adults, wherein Harlan does an extended riff on the metaphor of adults as books—some are boring encyclopedias, some are how-to manuals, some are comedies, and some are poetry. There are also some great one-liners, among them, ``Teach a boy to dance'' and ``Look in a mirror. Find both of your parents in your own face.'' (b&w illustrations, index, not seen) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8027-8640-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
Its focus firmly on the details of mountaineering in the French Alps and the Himalayas—mechanics, technique, lore, social milieu—a simplistic novel about an unlikely superheroine (though already making record-breaking climbs while still in her teens, her only major injury occurs early on when a guide hazes her by giving her a double load) who achieves worldwide recognition for her exploits in the 1950's. The tacked-on plot—minor setbacks, a romance with another climber—has less depth than most comic strips and reads like an old-fashioned adulatory biography. Roper is obviously well-acquainted with climbing, and for anyone interested in the subject there's a wealth of information here; he should have omitted the feeble story and added an index. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-75606-7
Page Count: 188
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
Old Crowe the apothecary/alchemist is fortunate in his new apprentice: young Duffy may be an unprepossessing orphan, but he displays both a lively curiosity and an unsuspected talent for magic. Within days, Duffy travels to other worlds, brings back a precious cockatrice feather, and—with Crowe explaining how alchemical substances should be interpreted not just in physical terms but also in a psychological and spiritual sense—creates the Philosopher's Stone itself. While townspeople, frightened by an eclipse, burn down Crowe's shop, Duffy reclaims the Stone after a magic battle with a dragon and uses it to bring the old man back to life. Since this spare, fluidly written story is symbol-driven, plot and characters are sculpted in bas-relief and are predictable in both appearance and behavior. Still, the author knows her herbal and alchemical lore and creates vivid, scary monsters. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-15-200750-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1991
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