Combines warmth, adventure, and an intriguing special ability for a thoughtful, pleasing, and well-written coming-of-age...
A 10-year-old girl and her grandparents share a special ability, which she’ll need when danger strikes in this middle-grade novel.
For Henrietta Jananne, always called Etta, summer means going to her grandparents’ cabin on Marmot Lake, which is “Etta’s favorite place in the entire world.” The alpine idyll is perfect for reading, fishing, drawing, relaxing, and hanging out with her beloved grandparents. This year, Etta’s parents worry that a bear has been near the cabin, but they allow her to stay, warning her repeatedly to be careful. On one walk, Etta’s comments about a rescued dog prompt Grandma to tell Grandpa “She has it, and I think she has it strong.” Sitting Etta down, her grandparents tell her some important family history. Her great-grandmother Morse had a special gift—she could talk with animals—and so can Grandpa, Grandma, and Etta herself. Though at first hard to believe, Etta discovers it’s true and works on honing her ability. A hike up to Jayden Peak with Grandpa turns dangerous when a snowstorm hits—and a deadly mountain lion is on the prowl. Surviving will require Etta’s gift and the help of some loyal animal friends. In his debut book, Collins offers a very appealing lead whose kind heart is recognized by all, including an animal: “You love me with honesty. You love me with spirit and with care. You listen to my ramblings about trees and stars, and I can tell that you take it all in, because you are a person who holds great respect for the world around you.” Some exciting scenes help balance the emotional ones, and Etta is never goody-goody or prim. Collins does a nice job of showing her courage and her playful side, as with the banter between Etta and her best friend, Sarah. The characterizations are well-drawn, including those of the animals, who don’t always conform to expectations—a fastidious raven, a serious chipmunk.
Combines warmth, adventure, and an intriguing special ability for a thoughtful, pleasing, and well-written coming-of-age story.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-978475-22-9
Page Count: 276
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
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