Despite Yep’s distracting use of italics for spoken English, this is a smooth, tightly woven, and thoroughly satisfying...
Yep (Cockroach Cooties, p. 394, etc.) draws from his own family history to create an intriguing story, again utilizing narrative to explore conflicting cultures.
Joan, the eldest of three children, is increasingly frustrated as a first-generation American of strict Chinese parents. It is December 1927 when she and her younger siblings convince their father to give Christmas a chance. They devise a contest: all the children must be good for the three weeks leading up to the holiday. It is the new neighbors, the fabulously exotic and wealthy Mr. Barrington and his daughter, Victoria, who act as catalyst to Joan’s open rebellion. Christmas is apparently lost. Joan’s father is also becoming increasingly ill with crippling stomach pains. Eventually the Barringtons show themselves to be double-dealers and with Father bedridden, Joan realizes her deep love for him and the sacrifices he has made for his family. Desperately seeking a way to help him, Joan refers to a Chinese tale he has told her and comes to believe that her father is ill because his Dream Soul is lost. She trudges through the snow, calling to his wayward soul and comes to believe she’s found it. When Father begins to heal, she’s not certain if it is the return of his soul or a change of diet based on learning that it is milk his stomach can’t stand. Infused with warmth, Christmas is seen through the eyes of those who have never before experienced the beauty of the tree and the joy of exchanging gifts.
Despite Yep’s distracting use of italics for spoken English, this is a smooth, tightly woven, and thoroughly satisfying story. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-028389-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains.
Myla and Peter step into the path of a gang when they unite forces to find Peter’s runaway brother, Randall.
As they follow the graffiti tags that Randall has been painting in honor of the boys’ deceased father, they uncover a sinister history involving stolen diamonds, disappearances, and deaths. It started long ago when the boys’ grandmother, a diamond-cutter, partnered with the head of the gang. She was rumored to have hidden his diamonds before her suspicious death, leaving clues to their whereabouts. Now everyone is searching, including Randall. The duo’s collaboration is initially an unwilling one fraught with misunderstandings. Even after Peter and Myla bond over being the only people of color in an otherwise white school (Myla is Indian-American; mixed-race Peter is Indian, African-American, and white), Peter can’t believe the gang is after Myla. But Myla possesses a necklace that holds a clue. Alternating first-person chapters allow peeks into how Myla, Peter, and Randall unravel the story and decipher clues. Savvy readers will put the pieces together, too, although false leads and red herrings are cleverly interwoven. The action stumbles at times, but it takes place against the rich backdrops of gritty New York City and history-laden Dobbs Ferry and is made all the more colorful by references to graffiti art and parkour.
A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains. (Mystery. 10-12)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2296-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Curtis debuts with a ten-year-old's lively account of his teenaged brother's ups and downs. Ken tries to make brother Byron out to be a real juvenile delinquent, but he comes across as more of a comic figure: getting stuck to the car when he kisses his image in a frozen side mirror, terrorized by his mother when she catches him playing with matches in the bathroom, earning a shaved head by coming home with a conk. In between, he defends Ken from a bully and buries a bird he kills by accident. Nonetheless, his parents decide that only a long stay with tough Grandma Sands will turn him around, so they all motor from Michigan to Alabama, arriving in time to witness the infamous September bombing of a Sunday school. Ken is funny and intelligent, but he gives readers a clearer sense of Byron's character than his own and seems strangely unaffected by his isolation and harassment (for his odd look—he has a lazy eye—and high reading level) at school. Curtis tries to shoehorn in more characters and subplots than the story will comfortably bear—as do many first novelists—but he creates a well-knit family and a narrator with a distinct, believable voice. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-32175-9
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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