In this riveting futuristic novel, Spaz, a teenage boy with epilepsy, makes a dangerous journey in the company of an old man and a young boy. The old man, Ryter, one of the few people remaining who can read and write, has dedicated his life to recording stories. Ryter feels a kinship with Spaz, who unlike his contemporaries has a strong memory; because of his epilepsy, Spaz cannot use the mind probes that deliver entertainment straight to the brain and rot it in the process. Nearly everyone around him uses probes to escape their life of ruin and poverty, the result of an earthquake that devastated the world decades earlier. Only the “proovs,” genetically improved people, have grass, trees, and blue skies in their aptly named Eden, inaccessible to the “normals” in the Urb. When Spaz sets out to reach his dying younger sister, he and his companions must cross three treacherous zones ruled by powerful bosses. Moving from one peril to the next, they survive only with help from a proov woman. Enriched by Ryter’s allusions to nearly lost literature and full of intriguing, invented slang, the skillful writing paints two pictures of what the world could look like in the future—the burned-out Urb and the pristine Eden—then shows the limits and strengths of each. Philbrick, author of Freak the Mighty (1993) has again created a compelling set of characters that engage the reader with their courage and kindness in a painful world that offers hope, if no happy endings. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-08758-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
Solomon (Solly for short) has lots of problems: a mean stepmother, two inconsiderate and lazy stepbrothers, an absent father, and an unresolved longing for mothering. Sound familiar? He also has a fairy godmother, but not the usual sort with wishes and wings and a wand. Freeble is a six-foot-tall talking lizard who conquers the highest levels of computer games and teaches Solly to transform himself into a lizard, too. Singer has created a fantastic, funny, but believable world in which intelligent alligators from planet Reptilia transform themselves into human shape when they perform on earth in the Circus Lunicus. Singer’s poetic talents are apparent in her language play with the talking lizard, who has an unusual but perfectly understandable manner of speaking. She skillfully weaves all the elements of the Cinderella mythic structure into her tale, along with the concept of a mother from another species who must return to her own kind. The story is told in short sentences and brief chapters with the appeal of a three-ring circus: laughter, suspense, and a little danger to keep the crowd wanting more. Solly wisely solves his own problems in his own way, finding hidden strengths within himself and help from unexpected sources, just like Cinderella. Luminous and humorous. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8050-6268-8
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
A mischarted island becomes a refuge for injured sea creatures—including a few mythical ones—in this now-poignant, now-farcical adventure from the author of The Secret of Platform 13 (1998). After decades of tending to oil-covered sea birds, traumatized mermaids, the occasional stoorworm (a wingless dragon) or elephant-sized boobrie bird, the three unmarried Harper sisters feel old age creeping up: so off they hie to spirit away three children to train as successors. They return with 10-year-old Minette, who has spent much of her life unhappily shuttling between extremely divorced parents, Brazilian-born Fabio, who is being forced into the mold of a young British gentleman at dreary Greymarsh Towers boarding school, and Lambert Sprott, spoiled scion of predatory entrepreneur Stanley Sprott. Minette and Fabio quickly fall in love with the island and its inhabitants, particularly after the mountain-sized Kraken, the oceans’ mighty protector, wakes from a 100-year sleep and drops off his new son before beginning a world-spanning patrol. Lambert, however, a real chip off the old block, gives the game away as soon as he finds his cell phone. Enter Stanley, both to rescue his son and, dazzled by visions of a lucrative sideshow, to seize the island’s less common residents just before the police arrive. Ibbotson’s cast is made up largely of types and adult caricatures, but briskly stirring in oodles of complications, she brings the plot to a boil that climaxes with the enraged Kraken charging in to rescue his son on one side, and the Aunts caught in a sensational public trial for kidnapping on the other. The author dishes up a satisfying romp flavored with strong sympathy for those who care for the natural world rather than exploit it. Like her previous books, this will ride high on “Others Like Harry Potter” lists for its style of humor, sturdy young protagonists, and array of fantastical beings. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-525-46484-0
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
