A good book to hand out to horse-crazy kids.
A middle school girl reluctantly experiences the therapeutic power of horses during a summer at Quartz Creek Ranch.
When Paley Dixon’s parents abruptly moved the family from LA to Denver just before the start of her sixth-grade year, Paley had trouble making friends and instead retreated into all-night video gaming. Now her parents have stuck her for six weeks of the summer on a ranch full of kids with troubled pasts—and no internet. Paley, who along with another camper and a trainer is black, is assigned a beautiful horse named Prince but lacks the self-confidence to lead him, let alone ride him. While she grows to like some of the other campers—there are only five—others send her further into her shell. The owners of the neighboring ranch present some stereotypical conflict, calling the campers “delinquents.” (None of them has done anything particularly terrible.) A more unusual dilemma comes when the campers find a fossilized dinosaur skeleton and must work together to protect it from harm. This is series fiction, but it’s a step above the usual breathless horsey fare, with well-drawn characters and realistic horse situations. Most notably, they’re not all white or girls! Fearful, white Hanna, a girl who copes with her overcritical parents by stealing, is the featured protagonist among a different but similarly diverse group of campers in the simultaneously publishing Shy Girl & Shy Guy.
A good book to hand out to horse-crazy kids. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5124-3088-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The story would have a real chance on its own merits without these really appallingly bad episodes. (Fantasy. 8-12)
Of course this will sell—as an E.B. White item and one that the publishers are pushing hard, playing it for an adult as well as a juvenile sale.
And that is where I think it really belongs, along with Robert Lawson's books, which reach children chiefly through adults. Thurber was another, but more justifiable on the score of a nice quality of whimsy, which Stuart Little—for me at least—lacks. This seems to me pseudo-fantasy, synthetic, and lacking the tenderness that makes a story such as Wind In The Willows wholly the children's own. Undertones and overtones of this story of a mouse in a human family are unjuvenile on all counts. The central story follows the make-believe as Stuart, complete with hat, cane, pin-striped trousers, and a stout heart, embarks on his small odyssey—a hairbreadth escape in a window shade (victim of a jealous cat), high seas exploits in Central Park, near tragedy in a garbage scow. Then comes the complete flop of the schoolroom episode and the romance.
The story would have a real chance on its own merits without these really appallingly bad episodes. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1945
ISBN: 978-0-06-026396-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1945
PERSPECTIVES
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new...
How Ivan confronts his harrowing past yet stays true to his nature exemplifies everything youngsters need to know about courage.
Living in a "domain" of glass, metal and cement at the Big Top Mall, Ivan sometimes forgets whether to act like a gorilla or a human—except Ivan does not think much of humans. He describes their behavior as frantic, whereas he is a peaceful artist. Fittingly, Ivan narrates his tale in short, image-rich sentences and acute, sometimes humorous, observations that are all the more heartbreaking for their simple delivery. His sorrow is palpable, but he stoically endures the cruelty of humans until Ruby the baby elephant is abused. In a pivotal scene, Ivan finally admits his domain is a cage, and rather than let Ruby live and die in grim circumstances, he promises to save her. In order to express his plea in a painting, Ivan must bravely face buried memories of the lush jungle, his family and their brutal murder, which is recounted in a brief, powerful chapter sure to arouse readers’ passions. In a compelling ending, the more challenging question Applegate poses is whether or not Ivan will remember what it was like to be a gorilla. Spot art captures poignant moments throughout.
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new generation of advocates. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-199225-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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