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PEELING THE ONION

Name: PEELING THE ONION
Author: Ruth Gordon
ISBN: 0-06-021727-8

AN ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS

edited by Ruth Gordon ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 30, 1993

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Sixty-six poems, mostly from the 20th century, including many translations (from Spanish, Yiddish, Russian, Papago, Korean, French, Romanian) and such poets as Octavio Paz, Kenneth Rexroth, Adrienne Rich, Boris Pasternak, and Walt Whitman. The poems are informally grouped to explore aspects of the natural world, seasons, family relationships, childhood pastimes, sports, etc. Though the topics may sound simple, the selections are not: these are adult poems on subjects children know something about. The meanings are multilayered (hence the title), the sensibilities informing them mature, the language often dense and compressed. Some will be accessible to middle-grade readers (Roethke's ``The Bat'' and Lucile Blanchard's ``Watering the Garden'' are about uncomfortable encounters; Mary Balazs' ``Dog-Walk'' poignantly describes a leashed dog, yearning to explore; Melech Ravitch's ``Horses'' is a wrenching poem about the slaughter of two worn-out dray horses). Others (Paz's ``Water Night,'' Stanley Plumly's ``Waders and Swimmers'') are challenging even for adults. Serious poetry for good readers to puzzle over and ponder. Poets' dates and translators' names given with the poems; fully indexed. (Poetry. 10+)

Pub Date: July 30, 1993

ISBN: 0-06-021727-8

Page Count: 94

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1993

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
FEATHERS
adapted by Ruth Gordon & illustrated by Lydia Dabcovich

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME IS THE LONGEST DISTANCE
edited by Ruth Gordon

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NIM'S ISLAND

by Wendy Orr & illustrated by Kerry Millard ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
OUT OF THE VALLEY OF HORSES
by Wendy Orr

- BOOK REVIEW
CUCKOO'S FLIGHT
by Wendy Orr

- BOOK REVIEW
SWALLOW'S DANCE
by Wendy Orr

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THE SCHOOL STORY

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Brian Selznick ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2001

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A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)