After 12-year-old Sarah's father dies at the turn of the century, her mother decides to send one of her four children from Ukraine to America. Initially this is to be the eldest, Hannah, but after her passport is purchased and the tickets arrive from Uncle Benjamin in New York their mother had a change of heart: Sarah will go instead, and—though Hannah is devastated and Sarah frightened—their mother prevails. The narrative recounts Sarah's journey by train and steamship, her fear that the fact that she's traveling on her sister's passport will be discovered, and her lonely wait on Ellis Island until her uncle comes. Useful, though not deep, a story that offers insights into the immigrant experience; readers will be interested to learn that it is based on the author's mother's experiences. Cogancherry contributes appealing characterizations and a strong sense of place in her carefully modeled, full-page b&w drawings. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8075-7237-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
Nearly a third of this addition to the ``Imagine Living Here'' series describes life in the Australian outback, where ``a mid-sized station with eight thousand sheep is two hundred square miles.'' Cobb states that ``If you lived on the outback of Australia, the only people you would see every day would be your own family''; indeed, the illustration shows a man shearing by hand with just his wife and two children assisting. Is it possible for two adults to shear 8000 sheep without assistance? Balance is a problem throughout; e.g., only one page discusses aboriginal people, while Captain Cook rates three. And, though decorative, the landscapes are so stylized as to be useless for identification, while not only sheep but the platypus, emu, and spiny anteater are all sky blue. Visually striking, but this adds little to the understanding of flora, fauna, or people. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: June 5, 1991
ISBN: 0-8027-6959-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1991
Krull's second book about her irrepressible heroine takes up the excitement and disappointments of show business. Now happily ensconced with her father in California while her mother works for a year in Japan, Alex is given the chance to audition for a part in rock star Rox Rox's latest video after making a triumphant appearance playing the piano at the fourth- grade Christmas play. In a flash, Alex—who has never previously heard of Rox Rox—goes into overdrive about her coming stardom. When she actually gets the job, her extreme enthusiasm begins to lose her friends and get her in trouble at school for inattention. When she discovers that she has been replaced with Rox's little sister (except for a shot of her hands playing the piano), her disillusionment is total. Alex has much energy, if not common sense, and Krull has a good ear for dialogue—some compensation for routine characters, language, and plot. An acceptable, if undistinguished, addition to young readers' collections. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-50479-3
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
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