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THE BOY ON A BLACK HORSE

Name: THE BOY ON A BLACK HORSE
Author: Nancy Springer
ISBN: 0-689-31840-5

by Nancy Springer ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1994

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A mysterious Gypsy boy, Chav, who rides a black horse and exudes angst is befriended by Gray, who's still wracked by the loss of her entire family. Chav, new in school, intrigues Gray. While out riding, she discovers that he is camping out, in hiding, with his little brother and sister and the beautiful horse. Chav, who suffered serious abuse from his ``gadjo'' (white) father, has a deep antipathy to gadjo society. When the tykes get sick, Gray takes them to her aunt's home, where she lives. The kids settle in, but Chav goes off the deep end; Gray is able to track him on the black horse. Public hue and cry about Gypsies and about Chav's theft of a gun lend still more conflict. Critical readers may shy at some hard-to-swallow melodrama (e.g., how did Chav and his sibs get into school without a last name or papers? And Gray's family died under conditions that are not only unbelievable but almost slapstick). Still, Springer knows her girls and horses, and both major and minor characters are real individuals. Everything a young, horse-crazy romantic could wish: a book 12- and 13-year-olds will pass around until it's in tatters. (Fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: March 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-689-31840-5

Page Count: 170

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ENOLA HOLMES
by Nancy Springer ; illustrated by Giorgia Sposito & Enrica Eren Angiolini by Mickey George

- BOOK REVIEW
ENOLA HOLMES AND THE ELEGANT ESCAPADE
by Nancy Springer

- BOOK REVIEW
ENOLA HOLMES AND THE BLACK BAROUCHE
by Nancy Springer

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THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

by John Boyne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2006

Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.

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After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.

The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice.

Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)

Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006

ISBN: 0-385-75106-0

Page Count: 224

Publisher: David Fickling/Random

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL THE BROKEN PLACES
by John Boyne

- BOOK REVIEW
A TRAVELER AT THE GATES OF WISDOM
by John Boyne

- BOOK REVIEW
A LADDER TO THE SKY
by John Boyne

- SEEN & HEARD
Author in Twitter Feud with Auschwitz Museum

- SEEN & HEARD
‘Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ Sequel in the Works

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ASK ME NO QUESTIONS

by Marina Budhos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2006

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Illegal immigrant sisters learn a lot about themselves when their family faces deportation in this compelling contemporary drama. Immigrants from Bangladesh, Nadira, her older sister Aisha and their parents live in New York City with expired visas. Fourteen-year-old Nadira describes herself as “the slow-wit second-born” who follows Aisha, the family star who’s on track for class valedictorian and a top-rate college. Everything changes when post-9/11 government crack-downs on Muslim immigrants push the family to seek asylum in Canada where they are turned away at the border and their father is arrested by U.S. immigration. The sisters return to New York living in constant fear of detection and trying to pretend everything is normal. As months pass, Aisha falls apart while Nadira uses her head in “a right way” to save her father and her family. Nadira’s need for acceptance by her family neatly parallels the family’s desire for acceptance in their adopted country. A perceptive peek into the lives of foreigners on the fringe. (endnote) (Fiction. 10-14)