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LEAVING EMMA

The first chapter of this well-written novel may be the best, attracting readers to the story of an only child whose special friend Tem is moving away. In addition to the blow of losing her close friend, Emma learns that her father has taken an engineering job in Turkey, and will be gone for five months. Emma exhibits fiercely childish feelings in attempting to dissuade her father; these feelings begin to make sense, however, as readers learn what Emma is in for. Her mother withdraws, as Emma predicted, to her bed and to television, with no apparent thought for Emma’s well-being. A sudden burst of cheer on her mother’s part results in more bad news for Emma; her mother is joining her father for five weeks, leaving Emma in the care of an elderly aunt. After that unbelievable, cruel twist, Tem all but disappears from the story, which turns to the blossoming of Emma’s artistic talents, through which she makes new friends. The novel elevates a common subject, mostly through Emma’s original observations, and despite the plotting. Although Brokaw drifts into the mundane in order to see Emma’s dilemmas to a conclusion, she often surprises readers with a well-turned phrase. (Fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: April 19, 1999

ISBN: 0-395-90699-7

Page Count: 157

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999

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THE TIGER RISING

Themes of freedom and responsibility twine between the lines of this short but heavy novel from the author of Because of Winn-Dixie (2000). Three months after his mother's death, Rob and his father are living in a small-town Florida motel, each nursing sharp, private pain. On the same day Rob has two astonishing encounters: first, he stumbles upon a caged tiger in the woods behind the motel; then he meets Sistine, a new classmate responding to her parents' breakup with ready fists and a big chip on her shoulder. About to burst with his secret, Rob confides in Sistine, who instantly declares that the tiger must be freed. As Rob quickly develops a yen for Sistine's company that gives her plenty of emotional leverage, and the keys to the cage almost literally drop into his hands, credible plotting plainly takes a back seat to character delineation here. And both struggle for visibility beneath a wagonload of symbol and metaphor: the real tiger (and the inevitable recitation of Blake's poem); the cage; Rob's dream of Sistine riding away on the beast's back; a mysterious skin condition on Rob's legs that develops after his mother's death; a series of wooden figurines that he whittles; a larger-than-life African-American housekeeper at the motel who dispenses wisdom with nearly every utterance; and the climax itself, which is signaled from the start. It's all so freighted with layers of significance that, like Lois Lowry's Gathering Blue (2000), Anne Mazer's Oxboy (1995), or, further back, Julia Cunningham's Dorp Dead (1965), it becomes more an exercise in analysis than a living, breathing story. Still, the tiger, "burning bright" with magnificent, feral presence, does make an arresting central image. (Fiction. 10-12)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-7636-0911-0

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001

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GLORIA'S WAY

Fans of Cameron’s Huey and Julian stories (More Stories Huey Tells, 1997, etc.) are in for a treat as Gloria, their friend from those tales, gets a book of her own and graciously allows the two brothers to share it . In the first tale, Gloria makes a wonderful card for her mother, but the wind blows it away and it ends up in the cage of a cantankerous parrot. Thanks to Mr. Bates, Huey and Julian’s dad, the day is saved, as is the burgeoning friendship that Gloria and the boys have struck up with new neighbor Latisha in the story, “The Promise.” In another story, Gloria has to deal with a huge problem—fractions—and this time it’s her dad who helps her through it. Mr. Bates proves helpful again when the group trains an “obsessed” puppy, while Gloria’s mother is supportive when Gloria is unintentionally hurt by her three best friends. The stories are warm and funny, as Gloria, a spunky kid who gets into some strange predicaments, finds out that her friends and wise, loving adults are good to have around when trouble beckons. Great fun, with subtly placed, positive messages that never take center stage. (b&w illustrations) (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: March 9, 2000

ISBN: 0-374-32670-3

Page Count: 93

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000

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