A cute, imaginative story that will appeal to young sci-fi fans, as well as kids interested in space exploration.
This book for young readers, set in the not-so-distant future, explores the life of a young girl who moves onto the space station where her father works.
Sadie Eloise Trill doesn’t want to leave her home in Vancouver, British Columbia, or her best friend, Wendy. But depart she must, as her father has been assigned a new job on the Blythe Space Station, where he’s been instructed to bring his entire family. Sadie’s little brother, Gilbert, doesn’t seem to mind. He’s excited to go up in the shuttle and live in space. But Sadie is leaving a lot behind. She has to make new friends, and she won’t have any summer vacations. School runs in three-week sessions, broken up by one-week apprenticeships. When Sadie sees a man in a space suit working on repairs on the outside of the ship, she knows that she wants her first apprenticeship to be in the Mechanics division. But then she finds out that the head of that department, Mr. Grande, is notorious for being mean and grumpy toward students who try to work for him. Still, she’s determined to get on his good side, and after a video chat with Wendy, who tells her that she’ll come visit next summer, Sadie is committed to making the best of her time on the space station. Debut author Joyce’s story explores the all-too-familiar feelings of loss after a big life change and the difficulties of being the new kid without ever feeling heavy-handed. She employs a clear, simple prose style that will keep youngsters engaged and curious. The story also provides an excellent example of a young girl aspiring to work in a mechanical field. American readers may be confused by occasional Britishisms, such as the term “lift” instead of “elevator,” or references to “primary six” grade level. The grayscale illustrations by debut illustrator Wiens throughout the story bring to mind images in how-to-draw-anime books.
A cute, imaginative story that will appeal to young sci-fi fans, as well as kids interested in space exploration.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5255-3194-1
Page Count: 60
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
