This story of a boy trying to patch up his parents’ marriage has heart, but is seriously marred by a deliberately choppy writing style. Kyle’s shy dad has been writing a novel for years, while working in a used bookstore. When his mom can’t take it anymore, Kyle and his friends decide they must find a way to publish his dad’s book. After finding evidence that Kyle’s dad truly is a great writer, the kids gang up to get New York’s most famous literary agent to read it, carrying out their clandestine caper with humor and suspense. While the book’s constant use of sentence fragments looks good in a readability formula, it actually makes the prose more difficult to read than would complete sentences. However, the style and fun story still may appeal to many in the middle-school set. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-87044-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
A 12-year-old gets a tutorial in the consequences of irresponsible behavior and the dangers of bad company in this earnestly cautionary novel. At his mother's behest, Dean keeps a journal of what turns out to be a traumatic year, beginning with a parental interview after he threatens his tattletale little sister and ending with a community service sentence for joy-riding with a drunk, high, underage driver. In between, his bike is stolen and the family dog gets run over—both consequences of his own carelessness—he is caught lying and shoplifting, and he watches his best friend Aaron and a new buddy drink beer, act stupid, and throw up. Newcomer Alford takes on a catalog of other issues too, as topical as ear-piercing and as timeless as dealing with bullies. The journal entries are only a pretext, readily abandoned; Dean's comments generally take up no more than a few lines at the head or tail of each chapter, and are mostly of the whiny variety, while the real stories emerge in the paragraphs of first-person narration. It's not entirely a tale of woe: Dean wins a student council seat, has a first date, and gains more wholesome friends, but some readers will wilt under the barrage of lessons. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 1997
ISBN: 0-399-23130-7
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1997
After a narrow escape from the drug dealers in whose trial Jack’s father will testify (Zach’s Lie, 2001), Jack and his family have returned to the dubious safety of the Witness Security Program. They seem safe enough until Jack’s painfully stupid sister, Joanne, successfully auditions for the reality television show American SuperStar. When she appears on national television—under a false name, but giving the genuine location of their hidden parents—the gig is up. Agents of drug kingpin Alonzo Aznar promptly kidnap Jack and Joanne and hustle them off to a ranch, an Argentinean hideaway that’s a complete reproduction of an Old West town. Jack and Joanne, held to ensure that their father doesn’t testify, escape in the muddle of a drug syndicate hootenanny in full Old West style. Meanwhile, their parents rush to the rescue with the help of former janitor and KGB agent Sam. Despite tense, action-packed escapes, the conclusion strains the bounds of credulity. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7868-5592-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2005
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