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PREACHER'S BOY

Name: PREACHER'S BOY
Author: Katherine Paterson
ISBN: 0-395-83897-5

by Katherine Paterson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 23, 1999

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Paterson (Celia and the Sweet, Sweet Water, 1998, etc.) rings out the 20th century with this ruminative tale of a 10-year-old freethinker, set in a small Vermont town at the very end of the 19th century. Hearing a revivalist preacher’s dark hints of impending doom, Robbie decides to become “a heathen, a Unitarian, or a Democrat, whichever was most fun,” because he “ain’t got the knack for holiness.” As it turns out, he’s not very good at sinning either, bending a few commandments by stealing food for a pair of vagrants, Violet and her abusive, alcoholic pa, Zeb, and feeling a stab of envy over the love his parents lavish on his simple-minded older brother, Elliot. He has a brush with serious evil, nearly drowning a rival who throws his clothes into a pond; the experience leaves him profoundly shocked at himself, and he ultimately earns redemption, in his own eyes, by saving Zeb from a charge of attempted murder. Despite some violence, the tone is generally light; if some situations are contrived, more thoughtful readers will look beyond them to the larger moral questions underlying Robbie’s attitudes and choices. Talky, but nourishing for mind and spirit both. (Fiction. 10-12)

Pub Date: Aug. 23, 1999

ISBN: 0-395-83897-5

Page Count: 165

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
JELLA LEPMAN AND HER LIBRARY OF DREAMS
by Katherine Paterson ; illustrated by Sally Deng

- BOOK REVIEW
BIRDIE'S BARGAIN
by Katherine Paterson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NIGHT OF HIS BIRTH
by Katherine Paterson ; illustrated by Lisa Aisato

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BATTY HATTIE

by Virginia Nielsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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Harriet is a sixth-grader who feels abandoned by her mother, a musician who has parked her with a biologist uncle so she can tour Europe. Harriet finds nothing good about her new home in rural California until she sees her uncle feeding an injured bat. Disobeying his orders, she picks up an abandoned baby bat while on a field trip. Harriet hides it for weeks, waking up every two hours to feed it at night; he thrives while sleep deprivation begins to take a toll on Harriet. The bat helps her make friends, but disaster strikes when the terrified creature flies through the classrooms and disrupts the entire school. Harriet finally must make the painful decision to return her pet to the wild, and when she sees the baby reunited with its mother, she begins to understand her own mother better. Although the characters remain superficial, the author’s treatment of Harriet’s difficulties in her new school will strike a chord with children. The wealth of information offered about bats is engagingly presented. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: April 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-7614-5047-5

Page Count: 142

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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HELLO BABY!

by Lizzy Rockwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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PLB 0-517-80012-8 Rockwell (who illustrated Anne Rockwell’s Halloween Day, 1997, etc.) focuses on a young boy as he and his family prepare for the birth of his baby sister. The precocious narrator confidently discusses the growth of the baby in his mommy’s womb and describes visits to the obstetrician to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Also covered are the arrangements for the boy’s care while his mother is in labor, the hospital visit, and baby’s arrival at home. The young narrator reflects on how his baby sister is not yet used to the concept of day and night and when she, at one point, becomes inconsolable, he fetches a favorite toy to soothe her. In a refreshing departure from other books about siblings, this one does not address negative feelings of anxiety, trepidation, or jealousy. Instead, the approach of the text is optimistic, reflected in Rockwell’s bright, cheerful illustrations. Age-appropriate pictures cover fetal development, including a wonderfully informative spread entitled “How a baby grows,” charting the period from conception to term. An upbeat, encouraging account. (Picture book. 5-8)