Life takes the closely knit Harrisong clan, first introduced in Deliver Us From Normal (2005), about as far from “normal” as it’s possible to get in this wild sequel set three years later. Glum teenage narrator Charles realizes a dream when he sells an article about his family’s earlier experiences to a magazine. However, the dream turns nightmarish when lawyers descend, first threatening to sue over his disparaging picture of the Bargain Bonanza chain store, then suddenly changing their tune and railroading the panicked Harrisongs into agreeing to front a new line of NormalWear and other shoddy products. Instant sensations, the junky goods propel the Harrisongs into international celebrity, whisking them from their rickety houseboat, the S.S. O’Migosh, to a penthouse condo and a whirl of limos and photo shoots. It all looks glamorous at first, but the Harrisongs soon discover a seamier side to contract slavery. Complicated by suddenly locked doors and trumped-up accusations of child abuse, they contrive a baroque, unlikely but satisfyingly successful escape. Readers will be pleased to see this simple, loving family weather the perils of almost comically exaggerated success to land on its feet. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-439-79447-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2006
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In a meditative interracial love story with a wrenching climactic twist, Woodson (The House You Pass on the Way, 1997, etc.) offers an appealing pair of teenagers and plenty of intellectual grist, before ending her story with a senseless act of violence.
Jeremiah and Elisha bond from the moment they collide in the hall of their Manhattan prep school: He’s the only child of celebrity parents; she’s the youngest by ten years in a large family. Not only sharply sensitive to the reactions of those around them, Ellie and Miah also discover depths and complexities in their own intense feelings that connect clearly to their experiences, their social environment, and their own characters. In quiet conversations and encounters, Woodson perceptively explores varieties of love, trust, and friendship, as she develops well-articulated histories for both families. Suddenly Miah, forgetting his father’s warning never to be seen running in a white neighborhood, exuberantly dashes into a park and is shot down by police. The parting thought that, willy-nilly, time moves on will be a colder comfort for stunned readers than it evidently is for Ellie.
Miah’s melodramatic death overshadows a tale as rich in social and personal insight as any of Woodson’s previous books. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-23112-9
Page Count: 181
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1998
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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Witty repartee between the central characters, as well as the occasional well-done set piece, isn’t enough to hold this hefty debut together. Teenagers Seth and Kendra are dropped off by traveling parents at their grandfather’s isolated Connecticut estate, and soon discover why he’s so reluctant to have them—the place is a secret haven for magical creatures, both benign and decidedly otherwise. Those others are held in check by a complicated, unwritten and conveniently malleable Compact that is broken on Midsummer Eve, leaving everyone except Kendra captive in a hidden underground chamber with a newly released demon. Mull’s repeated use of the same device to prod the plot along comes off as more labored than comic: Over and over an adult issues a stern but vague warning; Seth ignores it; does some mischief and is sorry afterward. Sometimes Kendra joins in trying to head off her uncommonly dense brother. She comes into her own at the rousing climax, but that takes a long time to arrive; stick with Michael Buckley’s “Sisters Grimm” tales, which carry a similar premise in more amazing and amusing directions. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-59038-581-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
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