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CHAINED

Name: CHAINED
Author: Lynne Kelly
ISBN: 978-0-374-31237-4

by Lynne Kelly ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2012

A heartfelt if at times emotionally trying addition to the literature promoting better treatment of our fellow animals.

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Can a friendship born in mutual bondage save a boy and an elephant calf in modern India?

When 10-year-old Hastin’s sister Chanda contracts a fever, their mother must take a job in the city with an abusive employer to pay the doctors. In hopes of freeing her from her obligations, Hastin looks for a job for himself. He lucks into a position as an elephant keeper at a faltering circus owned by the seemingly friendly businessman Timir, who hopes to bring the enterprise back to life. The job, in a jungle far from home, turns out to be more indentured servitude than employment. After a time, it is only Hastin’s love and pity for his charge, 2-year-old Nandita, that keeps him from running away on his own. With the guidance of kindly, old Burmese cook Ne Min, Hastin plots to save Nandita from Timir and his cruel elephant trainer, Sharad. Kelly’s fine debut brings the jungles of India to life. She skillfully traces the development of Hastin’s relationships with Nandita and Ne Min while carefully building the boy’s character as he comes of age. Readers may become frustrated that Hastin passes up several opportunities to escape with his elephant friend, but the touching finale will all but make up for that. The cruelty toward both humans and animals is honestly conveyed.

A heartfelt if at times emotionally trying addition to the literature promoting better treatment of our fellow animals. (afterword) (Fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: May 8, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-374-31237-4

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: March 6, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF BIRDS
by Lynne Kelly

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SONG FOR A WHALE
by Lynne Kelly

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THE LION OF LARK-HAYES MANOR

by Aubrey Hartman ; illustrated by Christopher Cyr ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2023

A pleasing premise for book lovers.

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A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.

When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)

A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Pub Date: May 2, 2023

ISBN: 9780316448222

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE UNDEAD FOX OF DEADWOOD FOREST
by Aubrey Hartman ; illustrated by Marcin Minor

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)