A bright future goes dim when Mandy's father is killed in WWII, and a returning veteran takes her mother's job. They have to move, to cranky Aunt Bess's farm. At first, Mandy doesn't want to fit in, either at her new school, or on the farm, where Aunt Bess tells her to tend the sheep—but her stubbornness begins to melt as she develops affection for the flock, and makes two friends. Still, she pines for her old town and the house her father had always talked of buying. A spring flood and a family crisis develop simultaneously when Mandy's mother proposes buying a local general store with Aunt Bess's lamb money; in a heavy rainstorm, Mandy finds the sheep cut off on a low rise, and must decide whether to prevent the sale by leaving them to their fate, or try a rescue. As it turns out, the water is already too deep, but she keeps the flock together through a long night, and by the time help arrives in the morning, has straightened her priorities. Willis plots a predictable but sturdy story, with a slightly antique flavor and a cast whose good hearts are frequently disguised beneath crusty or careless exteriors. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: March 27, 1995
ISBN: 0-395-68708-X
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
So little is known of Sacagawea's life before or after the Lewis and Clark Expedition that its story and hers are virtually the same, but St. George (To See with the Heart, 1996, etc.) enhances her account of the journey's oft-told incidents and accomplishments with a character portrait based on research and her own intuition. St. George does not invent dialogue, but recreates scenes, such as Sacagawea's childhood capture by Minnetaree raiders, and suggests thoughts and attitudes: that Sacagawea would have marveled at the oddly regimented habits of the explorers and the way they continued to regard her people as children despite all evidence to the contrary; and that she lost her fear of them by watching them celebrate Christmas. As Sacagawea's pivotal role as translator, provisioner, and peacemaker is clearly laid out, she takes on a heroic cast, as a woman both savvy and wise, cool in emergencies (in sharp contrast to her no-account French-Canadian husband) and, with her newborn son, as much a comfort to the 33 members of the ``Corps of Discovery'' as she is an employee. It's a credible construct, enlivened by colorful details (``Dinner was spoiled elk, roots and rotten fish'') and supported with a sturdy bibliography (although no specific citations). (maps, not seen) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 22, 1997
ISBN: 0-399-23161-7
Page Count: 118
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
Changma, the Korean rainy season, brings increasing stress to a troubled family in this long, muted tale of strong women and weak men. When Grandmother brings home Pyungsoo, a boy orphaned by a mudslide, only Junehee, 11, and her mother don't treat him like a stray animal, or despise him outright. His presence causes the already strained relations between Junehee's parents, who have four daughters but no surviving sons, to deteriorate further. Her father, Jungmin, even when not on a business trip, is seldom home; when he is, he's either harsh and arbitrary, or tearfully proclaiming himself a poor man and father. After Jungmin takes the family on vacation, then abandons them for two days, and Pyungsoo, to whom Junehee has grown attached, is spirited away to adoptive parents, Junehee's strong, competent mother disappears, leaving valedictory letters to Jungmin and each of her daughters. As in Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter and Suzanne Fisher Staple's Haveli (both 1993), the textures of daily life are skillfully explored, but Junehee is more of an observer than an actor, and the rest of the cast, aside from her mother, is either unrelievedly passive- aggressive (the men) or narrow and manipulative (the women). In the end, her mother's defiant act results in little and readers wonder, along with Junehee, whether anything will come of Jungmin's talk of emigrating to America, or if there's anything to the suggestion that he's hiding a whole other family. A stiff, distant, loosely structured story. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8050-4758-1
Page Count: 273
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1996
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