by Ken Catran ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2006
Kiwi author Catran offers a melodramatic retelling of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, seen through the eyes of a cabin boy. Picked up by genial, if poorly socialized, Hercules, young Pylos is awed to be among the renowned heroes crewing the great ship Argos. Though squabbles, rivalries and arrogance cause much of that luster to fade in the course of the voyage, Pylos, the rough-humored crew and its clever, smiling captain Jason in general acquit themselves well in the crunch. They survive (with some casualties) the man-murdering women of Lemnos, Trojan ambush, huge Clashing Rocks, troops of Amazons, a writhing nest of deadly snakes guarding the glittering prize and finally the bloody downfall of the kingdom of Colchis. Though he replaces divine intervention with natural explanations, Catran otherwise sticks fairly closely to the standard version of the legend, adding a coda covering Jason’s ill-starred history with Medea and his ironic death. This first U.S. edition of an award-winner will please fans of tales featuring manly men and courageous deeds. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2006
ISBN: 1-894965-43-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Simply Read
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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by Trenton Lee Stewart & illustrated by Carson Ellis ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2007
Low in physical violence, while being rich in moral and ethical issues, as well as in appealingly complex characters and...
Pub Date: March 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-316-05777-0
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Megan Tingley/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2007
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by Gordon Korman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2020
This weave of perceptive, well-told tales wears its agenda with unusual grace.
Two young people of different generations get profound lessons in the tragic, enduring legacy of war.
Raised on the thrilling yarns of his great-grandpa Jacob and obsessed with both World War II and first-person–shooter video games, Trevor is eager to join the 93-year-old vet when he is invited to revisit the French town his unit had helped to liberate. In alternating chapters, the overseas trip retraces the parallel journeys of two young people—Trevor, 12, and Jacob, in 1944, just five years older—with similarly idealized visions of what war is like as they travel both then and now from Fort Benning to Omaha Beach and then through Normandy. Jacob’s wartime experiences are an absorbing whirl of hard fighting, sudden death, and courageous acts spurred by necessity…but the modern trip turns suspenseful too, as mysterious stalkers leave unsettling tokens and a series of hostile online posts that hint that Jacob doesn’t have just German blood on his hands. Korman acknowledges the widely held view of World War II as a just war but makes his own sympathies plain by repeatedly pointing to the unavoidable price of conflict: “Wars may have winning sides, but everybody loses.” Readers anticipating a heavy-handed moral will appreciate that Trevor arrives at a refreshingly realistic appreciation of video games’ pleasures and limitations. As his dad puts it: “War makes a better video game….But if you’re looking for a way to live, I’ll take peace every time.”
This weave of perceptive, well-told tales wears its agenda with unusual grace. (Fiction/historical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-29020-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
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