Humorous and charming tales with old-fashioned appeal and delightful images.
A collection of new and previously published stories about a girl and her adventures with her real and toy animal friends.
Squirrel Hill is a farmhouse in the country near a small forest called Briar Woo. Madison, the young, white girl who lives there, loves climbing an apple tree and exploring with her friends. These include plush animals—such as a male elephant named Ellie, a monkey called Sergeant Monk-Monk, and Kitty, a cat—as well as living ones. The first three stories here appeared in Clark’s (Just an Ordinary Elephant and The Bald Cardinal, 2018, etc.) two previous books. In these tales, Madison sets out with several pals to cross the forest on an expedition to find North Africa; Ellie wants to be seen as special for wearing a straw hat, but it’s his kindness that makes his friends think he’s “very special indeed.” Kitty, who tends to be self-centered and conceited, finds herself being kind to an unfortunate bird. The new tales start with “Big Audie and The Runt,” in which Madison teaches a bullying raccoon a lesson about sharing. In “A Fly in Kitty’s Whiskers,” she gives Kitty her doll’s eyeglasses to wear “whenever she wanted to look beautiful, or when she wanted to check her whiskers for flies.” In the final story, Madison’s African American friend Kaila has been told there’s a pink dog on Squirrel Hill; they ask around and finally find the canine. Overall, there’s a pleasantly cozy feeling to these stories, and they’re sometimes reminiscent of the works of A.A. Milne, although Clark displays his own distinct style. Although several of the tales here have a clear moral, they’re never blatant, and the author softens the messages by employing several moments of gentle, humane humor. The affection that the various human, animal, and toy characters show for one another is also sweet and endearing throughout. Driver’s (Just an Ordinary Elephant and The Bald Cardinal, 2018, etc.) black-and-white, beautifully shaded pencil illustrations are a plus as well; they portray realistic but very expressive animals, and they capture the magic of Squirrel Hill as a setting.
Humorous and charming tales with old-fashioned appeal and delightful images.Pub Date: March 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-79885-589-8
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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