When Peter Harring (12), a legend in his own mind, kisses a mummy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a dare, he reactivates an ancient intrigue: He suddenly finds himself caught between a Pharaoh's daughter, Nephia, and Tachu, a semi-dead sorceress, both struggling for possession of a certain cat mummy buried behind an East Village townhouse. But Peter has help: a skeptical but willing friend; an intellectual younger sister; and a large, possessed dog, named (all too aptly) Pharaoh. The plot's constructed simply and set up heavily; Nephia arranges things so that Peter has little difficulty locating and recovering the cat (though sneaking it into the Met to reunite its remains with hers presents more of a challenge), while Tachu's mesmerizing apparition is no pushover either. A mild supernatural adventure with some comic moments. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 24, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-38033-3
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
In the last of a trilogy, sea-lion Daniel au Fond achieves his heart's desires—gathering representatives of the 13 tribes of seagoing mammals, and finding Pacifica, where legend says his kind and humans once lived harmoniously together—only to discover that his quest has just begun. Constantly recalling his previous adventures (Beachmaster, 1988; Wavebender, 1990), Daniel evades oil slicks and other pollution; rescues some fellow sea mammals from captivity; and discovers, on the back of an ancient turtle, a map that leads him to a partly sunken island. In a vision, Daniel learns that his kind had once been captive even here, but freed themselves in a bloody long-ago rebellion; he then realizes that it's up to him to teach humans to respect all life. The author's indictment of our brutality to animals and of destructive environmental practices is on the mark, but the plot's a ritualistic mix of convenient turns and token conflict. The anthropomorphism of the various seals, sea otters, cetaceans, etc., further undercuts the immediacy of the message. Daniel's fans are likely to be disappointed by the vaguely articulated resolution. For a better-written, more compelling fantasy that considers the same themes, see Ruth Park's My Sister Sif (p. 675). (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-8050-1285-0
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1991
Driven by a slim promise of safety plus the hope of finding his older brother Mang, 11-year-old orphan Muong Vithy makes his way across hundreds of miles of war-torn Cambodia to the Thai border, relying on his wits and the kindness of strangers to stay alive, evading the dreaded Khmer Rouge, and finding at last a chance for a new life in a distant country. Having passed through modern Phnom Penh and ancient Angkor Wat and finding both equally haunted, Vithy reaches Thailand. There, he meets Betty Harris, an Australian doctor, and begins to search for his brother, the last member of his family seen alive. Finally giving Mang up for dead, Vithy agrees to go with Harris to Australia—where he joyfully finds his brother awaiting him at the Sydney airport. The atrocities and privations that make Wartski's Boat to Nowhere (1980) and other refugee stories so searing are kept offstage here; this is a milder narrative (with something of a fairy-tale ending), but Baillie keeps the plot moving and his characters are deftly drawn and believable. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-670-84381-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1992
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