Simple, affecting prose and intricate, inspired paintings make this one worth sharing for sure.
A heartrending story of a New Orleans family’s experience through Hurricane Katrina.
Ten-year-old Louis Daniel goes to sleep hugging his brass cornet close as the winds of Hurricane Katrina begin to howl and rattle the house. In the morning, the family realizes that the levee has broken, and the water is quickly rising. They begin to make their way through the wreckage to the promised safety of the Superdome, with Louis Daniel and his mother riding on a piece of someone’s porch as his father pulls them along past a plastic Christmas tree, an eager puppy that they cannot rescue and something that is probably a body in the water. The family makes it to the Superdome, but they eventually find themselves separated. Louis Daniel is sure he has to do something to find his father, but what? And what will happen to the family after they leave the Superdome? And to the friendly dog Louis had to leave behind in the rushing waters? Bootman’s gorgeous paintings bring out the resilient character of the city even as he depicts the devastation it suffered. However, it is through the body language and the emotion in the faces of the mostly African-American cast of characters he creates that Bootman most precisely articulates what it was like to live through such a harrowing experience.
Simple, affecting prose and intricate, inspired paintings make this one worth sharing for sure. (author’s note) . (Picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-56145-591-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
Equally entertaining and thought-provoking, this one will appeal to science-fiction and suspense fans as well as those...
Who wouldn’t want a French-speaking, beret-wearing robot for a brother?
When a peculiar package arrives from France, 12-year-old Matt unpacks a robot. He is not all that surprised to learn that his father and uncle, both genius computer scientists, have created two robot children and plan to have them live as members of their respective families for a year before revealing their existence to the world. Matt adapts quickly, dubbing his new brother Norman and helping him to get used to life in America and the routines of school and family life. It’s not all smooth sailing, though—Matt’s mom is disturbed to discover how much Norman looks like a child she lost years before, Norman suffers from a computer virus and suddenly a couple of strange men seem to be paying too much attention to Norman and Matt. Written in Matt’s clever, casual and funny voice, this is a page-turner filled with fun, intrigue and suspense that sneaks in some important and timely questions. What does it mean to be human? How far should science really go in the name of preserving, protecting or even recreating life? How does profound grief affect our decisions and relationships?
Equally entertaining and thought-provoking, this one will appeal to science-fiction and suspense fans as well as those readers who tend toward more character and relationship-focused selections. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2658-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
There’s plenty of set-up for future volumes; fans will hope they won’t have to wait long.
Bransford’s debut and the first of a series is an outer-space comedy of errors.
Sixth-grader Jacob Wonderbar is the bane of substitute teachers everywhere. When witchy Mrs. Pinkerton tries to get the class under control and somehow her precious mug is shattered, a sprinkler is triggered and the whole class erupts in screams…Jacob gets the blame and his mother has to pick him up. That night, commiserating with his best friends, Sarah and Dexter, they investigate a strange noise in the forest—and a man in silver offers them a spaceship in exchange for a corndog. Next thing the trio knows, they are taking a tour of the solar system aboard Lucy, an opinionated if slightly bored spaceship. Then there’s a little accident that may involve the breaking of the universe. A space pirate, the eating of dirt, the universe’s largest carbon allotrope and a snooty space princess all complicate the trip home…which Jacob isn’t sure he wants to make. It’s the Saturday-morning-cartoon version of Hitchhiker’s Guide even if the laughs aren’t quite so fast and furious (and some of them are a bit of a stretch).
There’s plenty of set-up for future volumes; fans will hope they won’t have to wait long. (Science fiction/humor. 9-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3537-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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