A gently atmospheric ghost story with an intriguing setting and an appealing trio of protagonists.
The Boundary, a legendary fog bank, hovers off the Scottish coast, drawing welcome tourists and unwelcome scientists to the picturesque village of Journey’s End; but as three preteens discover, it’s anything but benign.
Bel’s long-established family makes a living ferrying tourists out to view the Boundary and recounting spooky tales of those claimed by the fog. When Nolie, a spunky, white Georgian, arrives to visit her scientist dad, she offers the timid white Scottish girl a welcome dose of warmth and fun. Bel, recently hurt by a friend’s abandonment, and Nolie, not fully reconciled to her parents’ divorce, form a close bond. Nolie, a ghost aficionado intrigued by legends of the Boundary, becomes even more fascinated when they discover Albert wandering on the beach. Last seen in 1918 rowing into the fog, the white boy provides firsthand confirmation that the legends are true. Entwined with the contemporary story, which unfolds in a third-person narration that switches focus between Nolie and Bel, is an account of a 500-year-old tragedy: the death of a laird’s son, the nanny punished for it, and a powerful curse. Legend says the Boundary can be kept at bay only while the lighthouse is lit. Albert relit the darkened lighthouse in 1918—and was lost for a century. Should the three risk trying again?
A gently atmospheric ghost story with an intriguing setting and an appealing trio of protagonists. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7352-8777-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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