A delightful tale headlined by responsible tweens who just happen to be exceptional amateur detectives.
Youngsters in Richmond, Virginia, are determined to find the thieves who looted a local art museum in this middle-grade mystery.
The last year hasn’t been easy for the Corbett children. Since their father’s death, the family has struggled financially. Now that it’s summer, 12-year-old Sally, who’s just off crutches from a lacrosse injury, can help younger brother, Andrew, 11, with his business. He handles everything from lawn care to feeding and walking pets. But the kids, along with Jane, the youngest, are shocked by a burglary at the museum where their mother, Cary, works. The thieves evidently zeroed in on antique American toys, which were part of an exhibition Cary had been organizing. As this show ties in with her recent promotion to head curator, the Corbetts are worried she’ll receive the blame for the thefts and lose her job. Consequently, Sally and Andrew decide to search for the culprits and recover the toys. They get their first big break from peer Henry Morrison, whose dad, Jim, is chairman of the museum’s board of trustees. Henry has a business similar to Andrew’s, and one of his clients had an antique toy that may have been from the exhibition. But going to speak with the client only leads to more questions and several suspects, including a suspicious motorcyclist the kids spotted prior to the robbery. As Sally, Andrew, and Henry inch closer to unmasking the thieves, they take increasing risks and may soon find themselves up against individuals more menacing than they could have ever imagined. Hass’ (Monument Avenue Memories, 2013, etc.) relatively short novel moves at a steady clip, due in large part to its succinct prose and tight editing. The author introduces the exceedingly likable Corbetts and skillfully teases the story’s mystery (by way of the shady motorcyclist) within the opening 10 pages. Sally, Andrew, and Henry are well-developed characters; they are all bright and considerate of others. Although they disregard cops’ warnings to stay away from the case and may commit a crime or two, the kids are generally cautious. For example, when they’re separated, they remain in contact as much as possible via cellphones. But more importantly, they’re responsible, as Andrew’s business takes precedence over any plan to follow up on a clue. In one instance, they decide first who’s cleaning a client’s pigeon coop before choosing which youngster will bike to check out a suspect’s workplace. The mystery isn’t difficult to unravel and often relies on coincidence. But Hass effectively generates a fraught narrative at the mere suggestion of danger. In one memorable scene, Sally, following the evidence, bikes to a store a distance away. Before she even arrives, an imminent storm produces dark clouds coupled with “low and ominous” rumbling thunder. The images by debut illustrator Corson resemble notebook sketches, but with copious details and shading. She deftly captures some of the book’s more intense sequences, though the highlight is a simple picture of little Jane enjoying a sandwich with the family cat in her lap. The author concludes her entertaining novel with a strong possibility of a sequel (Hint: The summer isn’t over).
A delightful tale headlined by responsible tweens who just happen to be exceptional amateur detectives.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-578-55877-6
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Windsong Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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