From a series of vivid vignettes of warmly remembered childhood experiences, Saldaña has fashioned a memorable first novel. Young Rey grows up in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, part of a loving family with strong ties across the border in Mexico, where there are frequent visits to grandparents, aunts, and uncles. For the most part, life is good, despite threatening poverty and occasional violence. Each chapter stands alone as a short story, but reading them in succession adds depth and resonance to each. During his middle-school years Rey struggles with what it means to grow up to be a man, an American, and a Chicano. He does well in school, unlike his friend Chuy, who ends up in jail. In “The Jumping Tree” chapter, Rey breaks his wrist by jumping from a huge mesquite tree in response to a dare from his cousins, then wears his cast as a badge of courage. Spanish words and phrases are sprinkled throughout, but most are understandable from the context. Saldaña’s work is very much in the tradition of such groundbreaking achievements as Parrot in the Oven (1996) by Victor Martinez and The Circuit (1999) by Francisco Jiménez, although his world is not quite so harsh. The warmth of family ties, especially Rey’s love and respect for his father, is strong, and there is reason to hope that Rey will succeed in creating a life for himself that bridges the two cultures to which he belongs. (Fiction 10-14)
Pub Date: May 8, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32725-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
This profoundly moving story is all the more impressive because of its basis in fact. Although the story is fictionalized, its most harrowing aspects are true: “Today, more than two hundred million children between the ages of five and seventeen are ‘economically active’ in the world.” Iqbal Masih, a real boy, was murdered at age 13. His killers have never been found, but it’s believed that a cartel of ruthless people overseeing the carpet industry, the “Carpet Mafia,” killed him. The carpet business in Pakistan is the backdrop for the story of a young Pakistani girl in indentured servitude to a factory owner, who also “owned” the bonds of 14 children, indentured by their own families for sorely needed money. Fatima’s first-person narrative grips from the beginning and inspires with every increment of pride and resistance the defiant Iqbal instills in his fellow workers. Although he was murdered for his efforts, Iqbal’s life was not in vain; the accounts here of children who were liberated through his and activist adults’ efforts will move readers for years to come. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85445-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2003
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