An irrepressible young heroine provides readers with a slice of life along New York State's Hudson River during the Roosevelt era in this epistolary novel. The Depression—at least during the period of September 1937 to June 1938—doesn't dim Hannah's spirits, but she recognizes that it forced her best friend Aggie's family to move away. Hannah's first letters are to Aggie, who never writes back. So Hannah writes to her grandparents who run a candy store in the Bronx, to a pen pal in Kansas, and finally, to President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The movies, radio programs, penny candy treats, and financial hardships of the time come through the prism of Hannah's sweet but never mawkish letters, with their asides, addenda, and postscripts. The White House letters—invented by Skolsky but true to the tone of letters from FDR, Eleanor, and Missy, FDR's secretary—respond to Hannah's daily concerns and also illuminate the private lives of these very public people. Her friendship with Edward, who lives on a farm in Kansas, is developed neatly through a correspondence that starts out badly before blossoming realistically. Hannah's bright, clear voice rings with joy, even when she is grounded for slipping off on the river ferry without permission, and later for swearing at the school bully. Cheery and winning. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-7894-2492-4
Page Count: 246
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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