Readers will respond to this improbable, deeply sympathetic hero.
Fifteen-year-old Bunny is no stranger to trouble. In fact, most of his recent trouble can be traced back to his mysterious grandfather David McLean.
Following McLean’s death, each of his seven grandsons received a challenge. Bunny’s was to get a tattoo (Ink Me, 2012). His ink linked him to a gang, and he quickly found himself on the wrong side of the law. Now on leave from his incarceration, Bunny wants nothing more than to spend time with his cousins and ice skate. However, Bunny’s plans are once again sidelined by his grandfather’s past. This time, he is taken hostage by a group of political radicals determined to bring their government to its knees. Bunny’s learning disabilities can make academics challenging, but his unique way of viewing the world might just be the key to his freedom. Written in Bunny’s own language, the narrative is filled with misspellings and misunderstandings, which can make comprehension challenging at times. However, Bunny’s indomitable spirit makes him a likable, one-of-a-kind narrator. Unlike the other books in this linked series, Bunny’s story is more adventure and less mystery. And while the chain of events at times seems unlikely, Bunny is enough to keep the pages turning.
Readers will respond to this improbable, deeply sympathetic hero. (Mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4598-0531-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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