The fictionalized backbone of this engaging and informative first novel in the Adventures in Time series is the journey, 2,000 years ago, of a single bolt of blue silk from China to Rome. A likable set of characters appears on each leg of the silk's travels (illustrated in a series of handsome black-and- white maps)—from Changan to Merv, Merv to Palmyra, Palmyra to Petra, Petra to Alexandria, and finally on to Rome. Among the players is Han Tzu, the first to trade the silk, who sets out on his caravan as leader, leaving behind a bitter family. Young Pacorus, next to handle the bolt, takes his first steps toward becoming a trader at the age of 11. Fiesty Julia Sabina, a young Roman noblewoman, is the last to purchase the silk, which is to be made into her wedding dress. Schneider is adept at coloring ancient Rome and China with vivid descriptions; her attention to detail extends to authentic and pungent cuisines, to the evoking of a blistering sand storm, and to the use of technology appropriate to the era. Readers will share in the anticipation as 60 men, their camels, and 30 pack animals prepare to begin their trek. In short, this is history brought joyfully to life. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1997
ISBN: 0-87614-649-3
Page Count: 151
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1997
Taking a page from Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990), Kehret (I’m Not Who You Think I Am, p. 223, etc.) pens a similar story of a girl who goes to sea. Determined not to be separated from her seriously ill mother, Emma, 12, embarks on a plan that results in the adventure of a lifetime. Sent to live with Aunt Martha and her arrogant son, Odolf, Emma carefully plots her escape. Disguising herself in her cousin’s used clothes, she sneaks out while the household slumbers and stows away on what she believes to be a ship carrying her parents from England to the warmer climate of France. Instead, the ship is the evil, ill-fated Black Lightning, under the command of the notorious Captain Beacon. Emma finds herself sharing quarters with a crew of filthy, surly, dangerous men. When a fierce storm swamps the ship, Emma desperately seizes her chance to escape, drifting for several days and nights aboard a hatch cover and finally carried to land somewhere on the coast of Africa. Hungry, thirsty, and alone, Emma faces the daunting prospect of slow starvation, but survives due to a relationship she builds with a band of chimpanzees. This page-turning adventure story shows evidence of solid research and experienced plotting—the pacing is breathless. Kehret paints a starkly realistic portrait, complete with sounds and smells of the difficult and unpleasant life aboard ship. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-671-03416-2
Page Count: 138
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
Bunting (I Have an Olive Tree, p. 719, etc.) once again explores larger themes through a quiet family story. Every October, on Lady Liberty’s birthday, Tony and his extended family have a picnic on Liberty Island. The family rendezvous at Battery Park to take the ferry out to the island. Waiting in line, Tony, who thinks the picnic is pretty corny, is approached by a woman, obviously a new immigrant. She gestures her alarm when the ferry departs without her; she is soothed when Tony motions that the ferry will return. Once on the island, Tony’s family has the picnic before toasting the statue and blowing kisses to her. Later, Tony spies the woman he had helped earlier, and the way they look up at the statue, “so still, so respectful, so . . . so peaceful, makes me choke up.” This sense of refuge drifts through Bunting’s text, as fundamental and natural an element of life as are the everyday incidentals she braids into the story and all of which are exquisitely caught by Carpenter’s vivid illustrations. (Picture book. 5-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201656-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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