Leave this novel at the bottom of the rabbit hole.
The beloved children’s classic is reimagined as a teen treatise on environmental activism.
After Alice’s parents die in a car accident on the way to protest farmland rezoning in Wonderland, Illinois, she vows to keep their ideals alive by staging her own actions. After a failed solo attempt to steal school letterhead and donate it to the recycling center, Alice decides to join forces with a vigilante eco-group whose members resemble the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat. Together, they vandalize private property and homes in the name of environmentalism, rescue a pig from experimentation, and investigate why Wonderland township is forcing family farmers off their land and building housing complexes. At least, that’s what they seem to be investigating. The overwritten prose is so densely populated with self-conscious similes and metaphors it is often difficult to follow the convoluted plot. Far too many actions and statements are repeated in greater detail in the following paragraph, to the point where readers may feel they’re being told over and over what just happened. Finally, the author is so busy making the characters painfully and obviously conform to their literary counterparts that any spark of personality or characterization is squashed. What is left is a message-y, cliché-ridden mishmash that neither breaks new ground nor pays homage to its inspiration.
Leave this novel at the bottom of the rabbit hole. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: April 18, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4405-8466-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Merit Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones.
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains.
Myla and Peter step into the path of a gang when they unite forces to find Peter’s runaway brother, Randall.
As they follow the graffiti tags that Randall has been painting in honor of the boys’ deceased father, they uncover a sinister history involving stolen diamonds, disappearances, and deaths. It started long ago when the boys’ grandmother, a diamond-cutter, partnered with the head of the gang. She was rumored to have hidden his diamonds before her suspicious death, leaving clues to their whereabouts. Now everyone is searching, including Randall. The duo’s collaboration is initially an unwilling one fraught with misunderstandings. Even after Peter and Myla bond over being the only people of color in an otherwise white school (Myla is Indian-American; mixed-race Peter is Indian, African-American, and white), Peter can’t believe the gang is after Myla. But Myla possesses a necklace that holds a clue. Alternating first-person chapters allow peeks into how Myla, Peter, and Randall unravel the story and decipher clues. Savvy readers will put the pieces together, too, although false leads and red herrings are cleverly interwoven. The action stumbles at times, but it takes place against the rich backdrops of gritty New York City and history-laden Dobbs Ferry and is made all the more colorful by references to graffiti art and parkour.
A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains. (Mystery. 10-12)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2296-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
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