bookshelf

ANDRA

Name: ANDRA
Author: Louise Lawrence
ISBN: 0-06-023685-X

by Louise Lawrence ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 1991

bookshelf

Two thousand years in the future, a misfit yearns for a long-lost planet. Andra is a rather dull 15-year-old until a surgeon, to save her sight, grafts a 2000-year-old bit of brain onto hers. Centuries ago, a bomb pushed Earth into an inhospitable new orbit, forcing humankind undergound and ultimately into slavish conformity. Now, liberated by the pre-bomb cells, Andra's moods begin to swing from black to radiant rebellion. She refuses to conform, captivating all the young but particularly Syrd, an apparent refugeÇ but actually a spy from neighboring Uralia, sent to sabatoge Sub-city One. But even Syrd's preoccupation with Andra doesn't stop him from carrying out his orders: he sabotages the ships intended for emigration to a new earth; Andra dies. Hackneyed writing, lack of science, and general implausibility all weigh so heavily against this book that it's a wonder it works at all. Oddly, it does—by establishing Andra as the one striving, scornful, yearning person in a world of drones. Still, firmly rooting the speech in the vernacular of the 1960's, with cardboard villains playing out the Cold War after 2000 years, is disconcerting at best. Entertaining, but seriously flawed. (Fiction. 11+)

Pub Date: April 15, 1991

ISBN: 0-06-023685-X

Page Count: 229

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
DREAM-WEAVER
by Louise Lawrence

- BOOK REVIEW
KEEPER OF THE UNIVERSE
by Louise Lawrence

bookshelf

A YEAR DOWN YONDER

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

bookshelf

Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”

This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BEST MAN
by Richard Peck

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL
by Richard Peck ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
SECRETS AT SEA
by Richard Peck illustrated by Kelly Murphy

bookshelf

THE CLAY MARBLE

by Minfong Ho ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1991

bookshelf

Drawing on her experience with a relief organization on the Thai border, Ho tells the story of a Cambodian family, fleeing the rival factions of the 80's while hoping to gather resources to return to farming in their homeland. Narrator Dara, 12, and the remnants of her family have arrived at a refugee camp soon after her father's summary execution. At first, the camp is a haven: food is plentiful, seed rice is available, and they form a bond with another family- -brother Sarun falls in love with Nea, and Dara makes friends with Nea's cousin, Jantu, who contrives marvelous toys from mud and bits of scrap; made wise by adversity, Jantu understands that the process of creation outweighs the value of things, and that dead loved ones may live on in memory. The respite is brief: Vietnamese bombing disrupts the camp, and the family is temporarily but terrifyingly separated. Later, Jantu is wounded by friendly fire and doesn't survive; but her tragic death empowers Dara to confront Sarun, who's caught up in mindless militarism instigated by a charismatic leader, and persuade him to travel home with the others—to plant rice and build a family instead of waging war. Again, Ho (Rice Without Rain, 1990) skillfully shapes her story to dramatize political and humanitarian issues. The easily swayed Sarun lacks dimension, but the girls are more subtly drawn—Dara's growing courage and assertiveness are especially convincing and admirable. Touching, authentic, carefully wrought- -and with an unusually appealing jacket. (Fiction. 11-15)