An intriguing premise based on true events fizzles in execution.
A young teen flees London for the States only to find she cannot escape the far-reaching clutches of war.
Thirteen-year-old Beatrice is from an upper-crust family in London. When World War II breaks out, her family sends her to New Mexico under the care of Clem, a nurse. Living in a working-class household, Beatrice brandishes her newly acquired housekeeping skills with pride while hanging out with her friend Arabella. She has also developed a crush on Esteban, a classmate and the son of the housekeeper. On the eve of her birthday, news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor shatters her peace. Clem is summoned to Washington, D.C., to train nurses for war, and Beatrice finds herself living with Arabella and her drama-ridden family. A new classmate, Francis, also whispers of a camp being built nearby meant to imprison Japanese Americans, accused of being spies for Japan. Fearful of conflict, Beatrice must find ways to navigate friendships, her increasingly complex living situation, and growing racial tensions in her community. Beatrice and the majority of characters present white. Esteban and his family are Latinx, and Japanese American Mr. Haiyoko makes an appearance, introducing himself to Beatrice with a cultural gaffe. Characters are one-dimensional, and plot inconsistencies like Beatrice’s extravagant meals despite wartime scarcity stand out.
An intriguing premise based on true events fizzles in execution. (Historical fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-932926-76-7
Page Count: 194
Publisher: Kinkajou/Artemisia
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
