Seemingly amiable play becomes anything but in a distinguished poet's brief, disturbing story, first published 40 years ago in the New Yorker. When Scho finds he can't play hard catch with Monk and Glennie because he doesn't have a mitt, he climbs a tree and gleefully informs them that his will controls their every move. Monk finally grows annoyed enough at this game to climb after Scho, who falls to the ground. ``I want you to do whatever you're going to do for the whole rest of your life,'' he croaks—in mingled triumph and misery—after the departing pair. Moser gives this encounter a deceptively idyllic setting, grassy and sun-drenched, while Scho's angry, dejected posture makes a powerful contrast to the others' poised and graceful remoteness. Like Julie Brinckloe's Playing Marbles (1988), an exploration of play-as-metaphor whose symbolic levels will be more perceptible to adults than to children. (Picture book. 8+)
Pub Date: March 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-15-230563-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Apolonia “Lina” Flores loves science and mathematical riddles, playing volleyball and collecting extravagant, romantic and lonely socks. But after the sudden death of her mother, her world in Corpus Christi, Texas, makes no sense: Her kind but distant English-teacher father has filled the house with books, and her best friend, Vanessa, has problems of her own. Vanessa’s parents have divorced and her mother spends her days making cascarones, a traditional Mexican good-luck craft made of eggshells and filled with confetti, which become the book’s central metaphor. Lina’s frustration grows as she discovers the vicissitudes of the first love and that happiness can be as fragile as an eggshell. An appealing coming-of-age novel set in a traditional Mexican-American town, in which Hispanic teachers, students and parents celebrate traditional American holidays such as Thanksgiving alongside such traditional Mexican observances as el Día de los Muertos and a Quinceañera. Local idioms of Spanish proverbs—dichos—used as chapter headings enlighten both characters and readers. (glossary) (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-316-02955-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2009
Salva Dut is 11 years old when war raging in the Sudan separates him from his family. To avoid the conflict, he walks for years with other refugees, seeking sanctuary and scarce food and water. Park simply yet convincingly depicts the chaos of war and an unforgiving landscape as they expose Salva to cruelties both natural and man-made. The lessons Salva remembers from his family keep him from despair during harsh times in refugee camps and enable him, as a young man, to begin a new life in America. As Salva’s story unfolds, readers also learn about another Sudanese youth, Nya, and how these two stories connect contributes to the satisfying conclusion. This story is told as fiction, but it is based on real-life experiences of one of the “Lost Boys” of the Sudan. Salva and Nya’s compelling voices lift their narrative out of the “issue” of the Sudanese War, and only occasionally does the explanation of necessary context intrude in the storytelling. Salva’s heroism and the truth that water is a source of both conflict and reconciliation receive equal, crystal-clear emphasis in this heartfelt account. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-25127-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
SEEN & HEARD
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