Many young men have a moment of reckoning as they look toward the future. These are the moments that author Powell writes about best. His portrayal of Dean’s moment of truth in Dean Duffy (1995) is superb; Gardner Dickinson’s “moment” in Powell’s latest offering isn’t far behind. Gardner is 14 and is watching his family crumble as his 49-year-old father enters month six of unemployment. Gardner’s mother has returned to work to keep the family going and encourages his father to take his time finding the right job, even as she worries about their future. But the Dickinsons are finding it increasingly difficult to cover up the embarrassment of an out-of-work husband and father. Gardner, meanwhile, spends the first third of the book pretending everything is fine and in fact enjoying having his father around. Powell writes about father-son interactions with insight and accuracy. Gardner and his dad have many long, philosophical discussions, and it comes out that his father is thinking of leaving the family, essentially running away. These conversations become Gardner’s moment of truth. He begins a rigorous program of physical self-improvement, including running and weight-lifting and begins to think seriously about what kind of future he wants. More important, he begins to think about having passion for something, not drifting through life as it appears his father has done. While there are no concrete resolutions at the close of this book, this is nevertheless a satisfying read on a topic not often seen for this readership. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: April 13, 2001
ISBN: 0-374-39981-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...
In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.
Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028077-8
Page Count: 280
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
PERSPECTIVES
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