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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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WHAT THE MOON SAW

by Laura Resau ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2006

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When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)

Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006

ISBN: 0-385-73343-7

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FAMILY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
STAND AS TALL AS THE TREES
by Patricia Gualinga & Laura Resau ; illustrated by Vanessa Jaramillo

- BOOK REVIEW
TREE OF DREAMS
by Laura Resau

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LIGHTNING QUEEN
by Laura Resau

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MONSTER

by Walter Dean Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 1999

The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...

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In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.

Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.

The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)