A down-to-earth, practical advice manual gleaned from readers’ letters to American Girl, asking for advice about divorce. With “one out of every two marriages in America ends in divorce,” readers are told that, if it happens in their families, the most important thing they can do is to “talk.” Beginning with the split-up and explaining how divorce works, this guide discusses the problems: wishful thinking (that parents will reunite), the one girl/two homes tug-of-war, stepparents, and stepfamilies. Holyoke’s tone is one of love and understanding’she validates the hurt and confusion while giving wise advice on how to deal with the pain and how then to move on. Interspersed with the text are quizzes (which, unfortunately for institutions, ask readers to “circle” and “check” their answers); the answers offer insight into all sorts of situations. A savvy, simple book that will become a must for some girls of divorcing parents. (further reading) (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-56247-749-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
From Jennings (Faith and the Rocket Cat, 1998, etc.), a quirky tale of two grebes with very different characters. Last of his clutch to hatch, Putnam responds to his mother’s neglect by teaching himself to dive, feed and, after the rest of the family departs unnoticed, fly. Seeing the world as a scary, dangerous place, he dives into a strange pond and, pulled by a deep current into an underwater cave, makes no effort to find a way out. In fact, the cave is filled with grebes, all huddled on ledges, unspeaking. Into this lightless, cheerless place splashes chatty, social, adventuresome Pennyroyal Grebe who, despite her best efforts to get acquainted, is so determinedly shunned by all that she begins to pine away. Finally, Putnam breaks ranks to feed her, and then to look for escape. Presenting this as a tale told to a feisty, skeptical nine-year-old, Jennings insists that there’s no lesson here, although thoughtful readers, like the child, will see through that claim. His story-within-the-story ends with Pennyroyal gone and Putnam still nerving himself to follow, but the child supplies a happy ending. Readers expecting an animal adventure along the lines of Avi’s, or Dick King-Smith’s, will be underwhelmed by this chewy allegory. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-439-07965-9
Page Count: 163
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
Wood (Making the World, 1998, etc.) tackles the enormity of death and the meaning of prayer in a way that is both accessible and meaningful. A boy walks with his grandfather, who is his best friend. As they stroll through woods and past streams, the boy asks those questions that grandparents are on earth to answer—“Why?” “What if?”—and about prayers. Lucidly, the grandfather explains that trees “pray” as they reach for the sky, that waters pray, that the wind prays and sings at the same time. When people pray, “a prayer is often its own answer.” The grandfather dies, and the narrator finds it impossible to pray anymore; one day, when he is older, he discovers the woods again, and finds his own prayers. The deeply naturalistic watercolors portray the wild exquisitely, and the boy and grandfather are timelessly rendered in jeans, corduroys, and plaids. Some of the spreads are stunning: a close-up of the boy in the grass with a tiny clover in his fist, and only Grandad’s knees visible; or a ground-level view, looking up, past the upturned faces of the pair to the sun shining through the trees above. This is a depiction of the spiritual that is without reference to a particular faith or tradition, and that doesn’t lapse into greeting-card platitudes; Wood conveys a sense of something larger in the world, and gives voice to the human longing to understand. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7636-0660-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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