Another old man's tragic past comes to light in a flimsy thematic reprise of The King Boy (1991). Two years after his abusive grandfather's death, Benjy is struggling to keep his Arkansas farm going. Ready to quit, he calls on gray-bearded friend Coot Hunter, who introduces him to Wolf, Doe, and Little Hawk, First Americans living as far from ``civilization'' as they can get. Heartened because at least no one can take away his home, Benjy returns to the farm. Enter Sara Brown, searching for her long-lost father; Benjy conveniently finds a telling photo and extracts from Coot a sad tale of a young mother who killed herself, a drunken father, and self-righteous relatives who beat him nearly to death and took his baby girl. A tearful reunion ensues. Along with a plot punctuated with extraneous incidents, and characters who speak in colorful similes and vague platitudes, the portrayals of Wolf (painted face and stilted speech) and Doe (whose only apparent purpose here is to die in childbirth because Wolf refuses to summon a doctor) are insensitive at best. An abrupt shift from Benjy's story to Sara's and Hunter's roils the ending. Altogether, an awkward, rough-hewn construct. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1993
ISBN: 0-02-775935-0
Page Count: 184
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1993
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
Paulsen recalls personal experiences that he incorporated into Hatchet (1987) and its three sequels, from savage attacks by moose and mosquitoes to watching helplessly as a heart-attack victim dies. As usual, his real adventures are every bit as vivid and hair-raising as those in his fiction, and he relates them with relish—discoursing on “The Fine Art of Wilderness Nutrition,” for instance: “Something that you would never consider eating, something completely repulsive and ugly and disgusting, something so gross it would make you vomit just looking at it, becomes absolutely delicious if you’re starving.” Specific examples follow, to prove that he knows whereof he writes. The author adds incidents from his Iditarod races, describes how he made, then learned to hunt with, bow and arrow, then closes with methods of cooking outdoors sans pots or pans. It’s a patchwork, but an entertaining one, and as likely to win him new fans as to answer questions from his old ones. (Autobiography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32650-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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