Two narrators weave a picture of the tragic consequences when union men attempt to organize the coalmine in Clay, West Virginia, in 1953. Clarence, 14, is shunned and taunted because of his harelip, and 15-year-old Elizabeth wants to be a writer and loves the mountains where her family lives. The peaceful, hard-working, small community is torn apart; families, friends, and neighbors are split into two sides against each other. The explosive situation of scare tactics and threats erupts as a coal-hauling train accidentally kills Elizabeth’s boyfriend when his truck stalls on the railroad tracks. His death sparks violence and murderous retaliation when a mineworker is deliberately killed. Elizabeth overcomes her feelings of bereavement by befriending Clarence and keeping his secret of a circus monkey that he’s found in the woods. Some of the tragic outcomes will be obvious to the reader, but the strength lies in the vivid picture of time and place as seen through the main characters’ eyes. The two voices are distinguished with different typefaces though some segues could be tighter and Elizabeth’s voice is the stronger. The wedge between Elizabeth’s father and older brother delineates the issues on human levels. As Grandma tells Elizabeth: “Overcoming heartache is like climbing a mountain of molasses. Sometimes you feel stuck there with the darkness tugging at your feet and pulling you down. But other times, things are sweet and you can see your way to go on.” In an admirable first novel, Baker has painted an intimate scene whose drama contributes to an understanding of then, there, and now. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: May 14, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-72908-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.
After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.
The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice.
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-75106-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Illegal immigrant sisters learn a lot about themselves when their family faces deportation in this compelling contemporary drama. Immigrants from Bangladesh, Nadira, her older sister Aisha and their parents live in New York City with expired visas. Fourteen-year-old Nadira describes herself as “the slow-wit second-born” who follows Aisha, the family star who’s on track for class valedictorian and a top-rate college. Everything changes when post-9/11 government crack-downs on Muslim immigrants push the family to seek asylum in Canada where they are turned away at the border and their father is arrested by U.S. immigration. The sisters return to New York living in constant fear of detection and trying to pretend everything is normal. As months pass, Aisha falls apart while Nadira uses her head in “a right way” to save her father and her family. Nadira’s need for acceptance by her family neatly parallels the family’s desire for acceptance in their adopted country. A perceptive peek into the lives of foreigners on the fringe. (endnote) (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-4169-0351-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Ginee Seo/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
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