Identity development and identity theft are the pivots of this summer-fare whodunit. Thirteen-year-old Minerva Clark is pretty typical; she loves her oddball older brothers, puzzles and her pet ferret. She hates her hair, her legs and the way her friends seem to have become mean-girl-junior-high-school-goddesses overnight. She hates that she’s already 5’8”, that mom’s left the family to teach yoga in New Mexico and that she can’t seem to stand up for herself—until, that is, she is accidentally electrocuted by her very own big brother. With one well-placed electrode and a single clap of thunder, Minerva’s mind is purged of self-hatred and self-consciousness, allowing her to become a sort of cross between Nancy Drew and Adrian Monk, investigating a complex web of check fraud, theft and murder involving her previously-thought-perfect glamour-girl cousin, Jordan (“On the days I didn’t want to be her, I hated her.”) (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-58234-677-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Downing constructs his children's-book debut around an odd, but riveting, premise: a young Colorado orphan finds fame, fortune, and a loving family thanks to a helping hand—literally—from Leonardo da Vinci. Leonard, or "Nard," as he prefers to be called, often finds ingenious ways to cope with his lack of a left hand (he was born that way), but his brain really goes into high gear when a detached hand scuttles up, takes a pencil, and proclaims in mirror writing that it's been waiting 500 years for him to be reincarnated, and now it's time to get down to the business of changing the world. Visions of big bucks and a national tour dance in Nard's head, but the hand, dubbed "Vinci," stubbornly counsels a higher purpose—and displays the speed and cleverness to stay out of Nard's reach until he sees the light. The author surrounds his spirited, basically good-hearted protagonist with an unconventional foster family for a strong, colorful supporting cast, stirs in a generous but not over-ambitious helping of subplots, and brings the tale to a (literally, again) soaring climax in which Nard's human-powered flying machine competes for a hefty prize. The plotting does tend toward the predictable, but it's grand entertainment, with an unalloyed happy ending and a memorable fantasy element to give it a leg up. So to speak. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-07893-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
The authors of Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (1999) return to the Japan of nearly 300 years ago for another whodunit solidly clad in accurate historical and cultural detail. Barely has young Seikei, newly adopted son of Edo’s chief magistrate Judge Ooka, begun his samurai training when he’s called upon to help the Judge investigate a rash of fires and murders. That investigation takes Seikei into Yoshiwara, the “Floating World” district of geishas and tea houses where, thanks to sharp eyes, careful questions, and a few well-timed revelations, he tracks down the culprit—though not before being tricked, framed, threatened with torture, drugged, and, in a rousing climax, nearly burned to death, while battling the deranged wife of a samurai who had killed himself for love of a geisha. The expertly unraveled mystery, as well as the vivid, exotic setting and fast-moving plot, will delight fans of Lensey Namioka’s historical thrillers. According to the afterword, Judge Ooka was a real, and renowned, detective. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-23499-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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