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THE RABBIT GIRL

Likely to be a miss on this side of the pond, though written in a style fluid enough to smooth over some contrivances.

A novel explores intergenerational links, with a modern teenager at one end and a child orphaned in the London Blitz at the other.

The bombing sends unwilling, urbanized 10-year-old Tony into the Lakes District. There he is given a drawing by old “Mrs H” (a certain artist and sheep farmer whose real identity is made known when the drawing lands on Antiques Road Show decades later) and develops a love for animals by working on a farm before receiving news that his widowed father has been killed. Meanwhile, in alternating segments, a modern teen, Mallie, lands a part-time job in a pet shop owned by a crusty retired veterinarian, buys an old drawing in a thrift shop and engineers both work and a personal connection with the vet’s unattached son for her widowed artist mum. A disastrous dinner party during which the old man spots Mallie’s drawing and accuses her of theft sets up a climactic round of revelations, shared memories and long-ago connections that ties the tale into a tidy bow. Young readers may enjoy the lively banter between Mallie and her BF Jamila and perhaps take mild intellectual interest in the historical back story—but to American children for whom the war wasn’t fought so close to home, the emotional resonance won’t be particularly sharp.

Likely to be a miss on this side of the pond, though written in a style fluid enough to smooth over some contrivances. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 10-12)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-84780-156-2

Page Count: 232

Publisher: Frances Lincoln

Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011

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THE CONSPIRACY

From the Plot to Kill Hitler series , Vol. 1

It’s great to see these kids “so enthusiastic about committing high treason.” (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-12)

Near the end of World War II, two kids join their parents in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

Max, 12, lives with his parents and his older sister in a Berlin that’s under constant air bombardment. During one such raid, a mortally wounded man stumbles into the white German family’s home and gasps out his last wish: “The Führer must die.” With this nighttime visitation, Max and Gerta discover their parents have been part of a resistance cell, and the siblings want in. They meet a colorful band of upper-class types who seem almost too whimsical to be serious. Despite her charming levity, Prussian aristocrat and cell leader Frau Becker is grimly aware of the stakes. She enlists Max and Gerta as couriers who sneak forged identification papers to Jews in hiding. Max and Gerta are merely (and realistically) cogs in the adults’ plans, but there’s plenty of room for their own heroism. They escape capture, rescue each other when they’re caught out during an air raid, and willingly put themselves repeatedly at risk to catch a spy. The fictional plotters—based on a mix of several real anti-Hitler resistance cells—are portrayed with a genuine humor, giving them the space to feel alive even in such a slim volume.

It’s great to see these kids “so enthusiastic about committing high treason.” (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-12)

Pub Date: April 21, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-338-35902-2

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020

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MIDNIGHT WITHOUT A MOON

The bird’s-eye view into this pivotal moment provides a powerful story, one that adults will applaud—but between the...

The ugly brutality of the Jim Crow South is recounted in dulcet, poetic tones, creating a harsh and fascinating blend.

Fact and fiction pair in the story of Rose Lee Carter, 13, as she copes with life in a racially divided world. It splits wide open when a 14-year-old boy from Chicago named Emmett Till goes missing. Jackson superbly blends the history into her narrative. The suffocating heat, oppression, and despair African-Americans experienced in 1955 Mississippi resonate. And the author effectively creates a protagonist with plenty of suffering all her own. Practically abandoned by her mother, Rose Lee is reviled in her own home for the darkness of her brown skin. The author ably captures the fear and dread of each day and excels when she shows the peril of blacks trying to assert their right to vote in the South, likely a foreign concept to today’s kids. Where the book fails, however, is in its overuse of descriptors and dialect and the near-sociopathic zeal of Rose Lee's grandmother Ma Pearl and her lighter-skinned cousin Queen. Ma Pearl is an emotionally remote tyrant who seems to derive glee from crushing Rose Lee's spirits. And Queen is so glib and self-centered she's almost a cartoon.

The bird’s-eye view into this pivotal moment provides a powerful story, one that adults will applaud—but between the avalanche of old-South homilies and Rose Lee’s relentlessly hopeless struggle, it may be a hard sell for younger readers. (Historical fiction. 10-12)

Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-544-78510-6

Page Count: 320

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016

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