Ten more telling episodes concerning the four Australian sisters introduced in All in the Blue Unclouded Weather (1992). With elegant, orderly Grace studying dressmaking in the city, the focus here is on tomboy Cathy—single-mindedly devoted to working on her treehouse or outwitting the neighboring toughs—and on wily, imaginative Vivienne, the youngest. In each of the linked stories, Klein plays with ironies created by her gifted but flawed, intensely realized characters' different perceptions of events. Cathy, an unwilling bridesmaid, escapes when she gets tar in her hair; Vivienne, pining for the role, now pretends she doesn't want it in order to manipulate Cathy into doing her chores. Often the reversal of emotions is bittersweet—after scrimping and conniving to buy a carnival doll, Vivienne gives it to a child even needier than she is in a magnanimous/self- righteous ``Act of Luminous Goodness,'' then goes home to weep for her loss; and in the end, when Grace confides in next-oldest Heather, she astonishes her envious but admiring sister with her determination to escape their small town forever. The Mellings' poverty is less emphasized than previously, and the strains in the family fabric are more in the background; but the schemes and shenanigans of these vibrant, tenacious characters are as lively and funny as ever, their more poignant feelings as skillfully suggested. A fine sequel. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-670-84733-X
Page Count: 178
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A child finds that being alone in a tiny tropical paradise has its ups and downs in this appealingly offbeat tale from the Australian author of Peeling the Onion (1999). Though her mother is long dead and her scientist father Jack has just sailed off on a quick expedition to gather plankton, Nim is anything but lonely on her small island home. Not only does she have constant companions in Selkie, a sea lion, and a marine iguana named Fred, but Chica, a green turtle, has just arrived for an annual egg-laying—and, through the solar-powered laptop, she has even made a new e-mail friend in famed adventure novelist Alex Rover. Then a string of mishaps darkens Nim’s sunny skies: her father loses rudder and dish antenna in a storm; a tourist ship that was involved in her mother’s death appears off the island’s reefs; and, running down a volcanic slope, Nim takes a nasty spill that leaves her feverish, with an infected knee. Though she lives halfway around the world and is in reality a decidedly unadventurous urbanite, Alex, short for “Alexandra,” sets off to the rescue, arriving in the midst of another storm that requires Nim and companions to rescue her. Once Jack brings his battered boat limping home, the stage is set for sunny days again. Plenty of comic, freely-sketched line drawings help to keep the tone light, and Nim, with her unusual associates and just-right mix of self-reliance and vulnerability, makes a character young readers won’t soon tire of. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-81123-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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