Enticing young people to leave the brightly lit Glitter and join him in the decrepit part of town known as The Gloom, a parent-hating, teenage bully sets himself up as King Streetwise in this plodding British farce from Ridley (Krindlekrax, 1992, etc.). Kasper Whiskey, having spent all of his ten years with his indolent mother, Pumpkin, in her beauty parlor surrounded by leveled buildings, has never met anyone his age until the day he catches Heartthrob Mink, one of King Streetwise's troops, stealing roses. When Pumpkin's prized brooch disappears, Kasper sets out in pursuit. Streetwise is looking for Heartthrob, too, for helping his intended queen, Hushabye Brightwing, escape; Kasper joins the hunt but is so offended by the king's tactics that he switches sides and brings the two fugitives to the beauty parlor. Ultimately, Pumpkin turns over a new leaf, Heartthrob deals the king a black eye, the brooch turns up, and Hushabye declares her love for Kasper. Cautionary messages about bad friends and the dangers of running away are woven into a story that, for all its quirky elements and exaggerated characters, never hits the funny bone; few readers will notice that the king sounds like Elvis, nor will they attach much hilarity to repeated glimpses of Kasper's skill at whipping up a kind of banana cream pie. Riddell's black-and-white drawings have an expressive, graphic-novel-style sophistication, but can't leaven this leaden effort. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-525-45799-2
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
Light on plot, heavy on agenda, this sequel to The Sniper (1989) belabors readers with the author’s outrage over the illicit use of rare or exotic animals in “canned” hunts and Asian medicine. Taylor (Hello, Arctic, p. 1045, etc.) gets the ball rolling by plugging in elements from the previous tale. Once again, just as teenaged Ben Jepson’s high-profile animal-rights activist parents disappear while traveling in a remote corner of the world, and the foreman of their big-cat preserve in California is hospitalized leaving Ben in charge, the compound is attacked—this time by multiple enemies. First, Asian gangsters involved in tiger poaching drop the body of a young prostitute into the spotted leopards’ compound, then, after Ben takes time out from the ensuing investigation to blow the whistle on a ranch where discarded zoo animals are sold to would-be hunters, parties unknown contrive to whisk the preserve’s huge Siberian tiger away in the night. Breaking into italics, generally for no discernable reason, the author tells the tale tersely, hammering away at unscrupulous zoos and wild animal handlers in repetitive conversations or ruminations, and giving Ben a trail of convenient clues that lead, finally, to the kidnapped tiger, a second corpse, and an end from which strings dangle like carpet fringe. Taylor’s cause is a worthy one, but the perfunctory story onto which he loads it is a nonstarter. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-439-33725-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
Horvath tops even Everything on a Waffle (2001) with this hilarious, heartrending tale of two unwanted children left with a pair of eccentric old ladies. As softhearted as her hard-drinking twin sister, Tilly, is surly, Penpen Menuto proclaims a willingness to welcome all who come to the door of their isolated old house—a resolve that is sorely tested by the twin entrances of mousy Ratchet Ratchet Clark, a distant relative, and Harper, a sharp-tongued adolescent raised, then abandoned, by a ne’er-do-well aunt. Subjecting their new charges to wonderfully lurid family stories and conversational volleys that tend to veer violently off-course, the 91-year-old twins both provide care, and need it—a combination that ultimately leads to Ratchet’s blossoming, and to Harper showing the worthy spirit beneath a truly rough-cut exterior. Though Tilly’s old heart finally gives out at the end, the author alleviates the tragedy with an epilogue describing how everyone else turns out (well). Once again Horvath displays a genius for creating multigenerational, interestingly extended families, and for blending high and low comedy into a tale rife with important themes and life-changing events. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 7, 2003
ISBN: 0-374-39956-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2003
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