More action-oriented and less psychologically penetrating than Echohawk (1996), this historically intriguing but dramatically uneven sequel once again puts the protagonist between a rock and a hard place. Echohawk, captured by Mohicans when he was only four, has the face and body of a European colonist, but the mind and heart of a Mohican warrior. Now 13, Echohawk, his Mohican father, Glickihigan, and small brother, Bamaineo, must travel west through hostile Mohawk terrain in order to relocate near the Ohio River. Making their journey more risky is the substantial ransom the governor of New York is offering for the recapture and return of any white settler “taken captive” by native peoples. After a protracted set-up, the plot finally begins to bubble when Echohawk is ambushed by soldiers and sent to live with his biological aunt. There Durrant demonstrates what she does best, sympathetically balancing the differences between Mohican and colonial attitudes. Although that part of the book gets short shrift, and the rest of the story is dedicated to modest adventure as Echohawk and his family make their ways to safety, this is an enjoyable read enlivened by the author’s facility for establishing a fine sense of time and place. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 19, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90369-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Things lost, things found, and their seekers are at the center of this novel about a girl’s prolonged mourning for her mother. In the wake of the sudden death of her mother, Sammy finds that her only consolation has been her best friend Bones, who shares with her the hope that their endless digging in their neighbors’ yards and the surrounding countryside will lead them to a magic discovery. Then Sammy’s long-absent Aunt Constance, her mother’s sister, comes for a visit. She is a real “finder,” sought out by others who have lost people and need comfort, answers, or both. In spite of that gift, Aunt Constance is unhappy; she is hounded by people who need her, and has no real home of her own. Worse, she has never been able to locate the one thing that means anything to her, the top half of a photograph of Sammy’s mother that has been placed in a threadbare pink satin jewelry box, which has been hidden. Sammy, anxious to locate anything that was her mother’s, quietly joins the search and succeeds, coming to terms with her loss and seeing that she has a real future, her own way. This tender and touching story of love, loss, and rediscovery is strongly plotted and poetically told, but the characters make it count; every one of them is someone readers will want to meet again. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32678-5
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
Rabbit and Hedgehog, very dissimilar friends, have found ways to share in the past (A Little Bit of Winter, not reviewed), and they charmingly do so again in their second appearance. Neither one of them knows the day of his birth, leaving them with no exact dates to celebrate. They resolve this problem by deciding to celebrate both birthdays the next day, complete with an exchange of presents at Hedgehog’s insistence. Now the friends have the joint problem of what to give each other, a puzzle they resolve: Hedgehog dips a bottle into the moonlight spilling over the lake to capture some for Rabbit’s dark burrow, and Rabbit packs a box of coziness in the form of earth and leaves from his burrow to soften Hedgehog’s bed in the wide open. Each is surprised to find his gift useful, although perhaps not in the exact way that was intended. The message, that barriers between friends can be overcome with a little thought, is delivered with warmth and humor in this gentle book’s perfectly complementary text and illustrations. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 29, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-028279-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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