The author of Unmentionable! (1993) and other unforgettable! collections offers nine more stories in the same outrageous vein. A cat possessively sits on a strange pair of bird's eggs, only to become ``Picked Bones'' when they hatch; one child finds it easier to keep a single rabbit as a secret pet than the hundreds it soon becomes (``Too Many Rabbits''); another, embarrassed when her father plays practical jokes with ``pretend cat poo,'' neatly (and disgustingly) turns the tables (``A Mouthful''). Jennings displays his usual flair for riveting titles (``Pubic Hare'') and first lines (``The man next door buried his wife in the backyard''), and the humor, though frequently gross, is tempered by moments of tenderness; in ``Just Like Me,'' an awkward, unhappy child pens a love letter that finds the right recipient years later. These variations in tone, plus a brain-bending time-travel paradox (``Backward Step''), play off the array of puns, fecal jokes, and macabre plot twists; Jennings may shock adults, but his tales are guaranteed to delight less-practiced readers. (Short stories. 11- 13)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-670-86856-6
Page Count: 134
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When Peter Harring (12), a legend in his own mind, kisses a mummy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a dare, he reactivates an ancient intrigue: He suddenly finds himself caught between a Pharaoh's daughter, Nephia, and Tachu, a semi-dead sorceress, both struggling for possession of a certain cat mummy buried behind an East Village townhouse. But Peter has help: a skeptical but willing friend; an intellectual younger sister; and a large, possessed dog, named (all too aptly) Pharaoh. The plot's constructed simply and set up heavily; Nephia arranges things so that Peter has little difficulty locating and recovering the cat (though sneaking it into the Met to reunite its remains with hers presents more of a challenge), while Tachu's mesmerizing apparition is no pushover either. A mild supernatural adventure with some comic moments. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 24, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-38033-3
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
When Danny's Pop goes back to the VA hospital with recurrent post-traumatic stress disorder, Danny discovers he's not quite as capable of caring for himself as he'd thought. The author of The Adventures of Boone Barnaby (1990) returns to the small town of San Puerco for another engaging, well-told tale of a young person with choices to make. Boone's friend Danny watches the coyotes who live nearby spurn every gift (rightly fearing poison), yet steal unhesitatingly; he sees the local pusher driving ever-fancier cars; he hears that the visiting soccer team has overwhelmed its opponents with intimidation and foul play. Still, fundamentally decent Danny takes his own path- -doing odd jobs, learning to accept freely offered gifts, spending what money he makes responsibly, and refusing to cheat, either in business (he's a born organizer) or on the playing field. Cottonwood makes his points in both obvious and subtle ways and buoys his story with an idiosyncratic, good-natured cast; with Danny's voracious, vividly described hunger (almost a running gag); and with a soccer game in which the winner is not the team with the highest score. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-590-45067-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
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