In a story that spans the four seasons of 1821, 12-year-old Nelly and her older brother, Cornelius, see their family devastated by the death of their mother, turned topsy-turvy by the arrival of their young and bookish stepmother, and enlivened by visits from a most peculiar John Chapman, a neighbor fond of planting apple trees. Set on the Indiana frontier, this has all the elements of a Little House wannabe. Here, though, Pa is gruff and non-communicative, disappearing for months and returning only with his pretty new wife Margery. Said wife brings a trunk full of books but can’t cook the simplest foods. Pa and Cornelius spend a good deal of their time hunting and even bring home a catamount baby that Nelly adopts. Pa has killed the mother for her skin and warns Nelly that the adorable creature will grow up to kill. Nelly pays him no mind, to her eventual regret. She even cooks up a rather absurd romance between John Chapman and her stepmother. Needless to say, Nelly grows to appreciate her stepmother’s good points, especially her storytelling and her books. When her baby arrives, it is Nelly who is present and Nelly who promises the dying Margery that she will love and cherish the infant. Cullen works hard to make Nelly an appealing heroine and develops the conflict in Nelly between love for her dead mother and growing respect for the stepmother. There’s also a storyline for brother Cornelius who goes to a nearby abandoned fort ostensibly for schooling but really because of a girl. The father remains a stock, underdeveloped character, and while the hardships and loneliness of frontier life are developed in the story, references to relations with Indians appear thrown in merely for good measure. Pleasant but unsubstantial fare. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-029133-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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