Self-pitying, Holden Caulfield—wannabe Bradley Gold narrates Nodelman’s tale of much ado about nothing. When Roblin Memorial High decides to draft a Code of Conduct for the students, the last thing 11th grader Bradley wants is to be involved. But his best friend, Coll Anderson, talks him into taking an interest and before he knows it, Brad starts a crusade to revise the document to include a code for teachers as well. That doesn’t come easily: Student bullies, teachers, and parents stand in Brad’s way before he triumphs. If readers don’t tire of the one-note plot, they will quickly grow impatient with Bradley’s tirades; his rambling, cynical observations don’t make him particularly likable or sympathetic. Brad’s skewering of adults—who are all cruel, deviant, or imbecilic—and classmates, whom he defines by stereotypes and quirks, substitutes for a storyline. In Brad’s unrealistic world, he seems to count himself as the only one with any redeeming qualities—no wonder he’s miserable. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: July 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81466-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
What dreams would lead a 16-year-old to leave her safe home in Arlington, Iowa, and take a chance on a homestead claim in Montana? Hattie Brooks, an orphan, is tired of being shuttled between relatives, tired of being Hattie Here-and-There and the feeling of being the “one odd sock behind.” So when Uncle Chester leaves her his Montana homestead claim, she jumps at the chance for independence. It’s 1918, so this is homesteading in the days of Model Ts rather than covered wagons, a time of world war, Spanish influenza and anti-German sentiment turning nasty in small-town America. Hattie’s first-person narrative is a deft mix of her own accounts of managing her claim, letters to and from her friend Charlie, who is off at war, newspaper columns she writes and even a couple of recipes. Based on a bit of Larson’s family history, this is not so much a happily-ever-after story as a next-year-will-be-better tale, with Hattie’s new-found definition of home. This fine offering may well inspire readers to find out more about their own family histories. (acknowledgments, author’s note, further reading) (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73313-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A high-school student with a passion for selling shoes may be a hard sell to teenagers, but Bauer (Sticks, 1996, etc.) makes 16-year-old, too-tall Jenna Boller a convincing narrator in this story of love and loss in the shoe business. President and owner of shoe stores from Chicago to Texas, the elderly Mrs. Gladstone appoints Jenna, who works in one of the stores, her personal driver. As the Chicago skyline recedes, Jenna and her companion head for the Lone Star state and a stockholders' meeting, taking in shoe stores from Peoria to Little Rock, where Mrs. Gladstone uncovers not only a decline in the quality of shoes being sold, but her son's plot for a company takeover. Sharp dialogue and caustic commentary from Jenna mark the journey, which lags somewhere around Kansas; revitalizing the plot is the entrance of Harry Bender, world's greatest shoe salesman. Through him and others, Jenna learns much more than the rules of the road ("Never eat at a place called MOM'S, because it's a safe bet Mom's been dead for years'') and business acumen. Jenna's alcoholic father hovers in the background, more plot manipulation than fully realized character, but his presence throws Jenna's new maturity into relief. It's an unlikely hero's journey, and Bauer's dry humor assures readers that all's well that ends wellif not in corporate takeovers, at least in the business of growing up. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: April 13, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-23140-4
Page Count: 201
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1998
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