Despite some flaws, children may enjoy the gross-out humor while imbibing the lesson on cleanliness.
A little boy who won’t clean between his toes gets taught a lesson in Clemens’ debut, an illustrated children’s book.
Cameron is a young boy who absolutely refuses to wash between his toes. “I like the SQUISH SHISHEE SQUISH of the toe jam I keep between them!” he yells to his mother, unimpressed by her arguments about health. After all, “I don’t comb my hair with them! I don’t even eat with them!” Informing her son that he’ll have to learn the hard way, Cameron’s mother says good night. When he wakes, Cameron discovers that in place of his 10 toes are 10 marshmallows. Through the day, Cameron finds that marshmallows make a poor substitute for toes: They don’t fit in tennis shoes, and they feel gooey inside his hiking boots. After a few misadventures outside, Cameron agrees to clean between his toes if his mother will help him remove the marshmallows. Lively illustrations convey Cameron’s dilemma. Strongly reminiscent of “The Radish Cure” chapter in Betty MacDonald’s Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, this book has the exaggeration but lacks the charm and consistency of that narrative. Dirt, after all, is a natural place to grow radishes, but there’s no natural connection between toe gunk and sweet confections. Also, while Patsy’s layer of topsoil doesn’t bother her until she’s actually growing radishes (and then is so caked with dirt she needs her mother’s help), Cameron recoils immediately—yet for some reason doesn’t take the obvious step of simply removing the marshmallows himself. Child readers, of course, may simply laugh at Cameron’s messy situation without asking such questions. This book could use a clean-up itself to follow standard rules for capitalization and punctuation.
Despite some flaws, children may enjoy the gross-out humor while imbibing the lesson on cleanliness.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481711357
Page Count: 28
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A well-imagined premise with a flat narrative arc.
In Henderson’s (Branded, 2011) YA novel, an unhappy, insecure 16-year-old meets a pair of “gorgeous” twin boys who reveal her true purpose in life.
Hayden Heyer’s first day of school starts off with the typical hiccups. A trip to the office to get help with her broken locker only compounds things when she spots identical, blue-eyed James and Joe Sparks, new to Henderson High—and, eerily, in almost every one of her classes. At first, she plays coy and even tries to avoid the two. Once she realizes her new relationship riles the entitled “fembots” at school, she accepts their friendly advances, which include lessons on meditation and how to live a healthier lifestyle. When a local gang confronts the trio, the twins begin to reveal their true identities as immortal “protectors,” second-class angels sent by God to train Hayden to control the elements and “round ball-like spheres” of energy so that she might fulfill her heavenly duty as a “balancer” on earth, “able to handle any physical problem like: protecting an innocent, freeing the trapped, or stopping a crime.” What she can’t handle is her heart as she struggles to decide which of the Sparks brothers she loves. Ethereal in both subject and style, Henderson’s book doesn’t rise to the challenge of its promising beginning. Told in first-person, the story switches verb tenses and repeats words frequently: On one page, characters “scan” the cafeteria (twice) before “scanning” the menu. The dialogue smacks of melodrama, and the abuse of adverbs is constant: “ ‘You throw like a girl,’ James commented competitively.” The dearth of conflict or character development, despite Henderson’s lofty imaginary tangents, confounds. For a few maddening chapters, the reader follows Hayden and her slightly sociopathic guardians as they go to the mall to shop. Without climax or resolution, the book sputters to an undramatic cliff-hanger—and the promise of a sequel—without providing much satisfaction.
A well-imagined premise with a flat narrative arc.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985895310
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Twin Guardian Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy, pleasing double dose of collegiate gay fiction, serviceably written and easily digested.
Two brisk novellas affably depict the vulnerable, complicated landscape of burgeoning homosexuality.
The title story features the first-person narrative of a young man confused about his sexuality. Besides his staunch Catholic mother and Protestant father, there’s Debbie, Jay’s sister, an observant sibling who recognizes her brother’s gay tendencies even before he does. After a misguided effort to join the priesthood (he’s kicked out by the monsignor for an excessive masturbatory habit), Jay enters college with the hopes of becoming a teacher. A night of flirtatious binge drinking with his handsome, fit-bodied, straight new roommate turns mean-spirited when he outs Jay as the “dorm faggot.” A desperate suicide attempt soon follows and fails, but Jay’s heart is rescued by cute, cocky classmate Benson Singer, whom he brings home to meet his Mom. Eventually, both boys help spur students’ rights initiatives across campus. Just as lighthearted but more maturely drawn is the second tale, “David,” about two freshman dorm mates, wide-eyed Brad and carefree former-GI Mike, who become eagerly attached to each other as friends, then as lovers. While Mike recalls stories of his time as a soldier to an obsessed Brad, their attraction blossoms and is eventually consummated, but self-doubt and a horrific tragedy cast a grim shadow on their relationship. Although both stories have contemporary inspiration and carefully skirt explicit language, the plots seem underdeveloped, their potential stifled by brevity and, particularly in the title tale, a dependence on clichéd tropes: Jay feels the need to reach out to Benson “and hug him while saying, ‘Where have you been all my life?’ ” Strained dialogue aside, Russell’s dynamic characters buzz with moxie and emerge as the kind of hip, cheeky chaps best appreciated by a YA audience, gay or otherwise.
A breezy, pleasing double dose of collegiate gay fiction, serviceably written and easily digested.Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479305261
Page Count: 144
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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