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GEORGE ON HIS OWN

Name: GEORGE ON HIS OWN
Author: Laurie Lawlor
ISBN: 0-8075-2823-4

by Laurie Lawlor & illustrated by Toby Gowing ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1993

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After three books centered on oldest child Addie (Addie's Long Summer, etc.), Lawlor turns to next-child George, now 12. Pa depends on George's help, expecting that he'll eventually take over their Dakota farm; but George dreams of an escape from farm work and a chance to play his trombone. After little sister Nellie May's death from measles, Pa's anger upon learning that George has paid for the borrowed trombone causes the boy to take flight, hoping to join a band of traveling players en route to Deadwood. The players, who take full advantage of the substantial competence George has acquired under stern Pa, turn out to be charlatans and thieves; but, fortunately, one of them—grateful that George saved his life after a snakebite—gives him enough money to get home, where he finds a loving Pa, mellowed by his absence. Lawlor doesn't get beneath the surface of her characters, who exist mostly to exemplify 19th-century frontier life, and her dialogue is awkward, unconvincing. Still, the prairie setting is well-researched, the plot's interesting enough to hold readers, and the family—more prosperous, and with quite different family dynamics—offers a plausible contrast to the beloved Ingalls. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: May 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-8075-2823-4

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1993

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT MUSIC!
by Laurie Lawlor ; illustrated by Becca Stadtlander

- BOOK REVIEW
RESTORING PRAIRIE, WOODS, AND POND
by Laurie Lawlor

- BOOK REVIEW
FEARLESS WORLD TRAVELER
by Laurie Lawlor ; illustrated by Becca Stadtlander

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FRINDLE

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Brian Selznick ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1996

With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating...

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Nicholas is a bright boy who likes to make trouble at school, creatively.

When he decides to torment his fifth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Granger (who is just as smart as he is), by getting everyone in the class to replace the word "pen'' with "frindle,'' he unleashes a series of events that rapidly spins out of control. If there's any justice in the world, Clements (Temple Cat, 1995, etc.) may have something of a classic on his hands. By turns amusing and adroit, this first novel is also utterly satisfying. The chess-like sparring between the gifted Nicholas and his crafty teacher is enthralling, while Mrs. Granger is that rarest of the breed: a teacher the children fear and complain about for the school year, and love and respect forever after.

With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating tale—one to press upon children, and one they'll be passing among themselves. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-689-80669-8

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FRIENDSHIP WAR
by Andrew Clements

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LOSERS CLUB
by Andrew Clements

- BOOK REVIEW
ABOUT AVERAGE
by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Mark Elliott

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CORALINE

by Neil Gaiman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...

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A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.

Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.

Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)