Varjak Paw is back! The small, silver housecat-turned-hero (thanks to his mastery of the mystical warrior “Way”) now lives on the streets with his alley-cat friends, shrewd Holly and timid Tam, along with Cludge, the galumphing canine galoot. But city life is hard in winter, especially when the thuggish gang, led by the mysterious Sally Bones, monopolizes food and shelter. Varjak tries to defy Sally on behalf of the Free Cats, to find that even the Way is not sufficient against her malevolent powers—while his dreams of his ancestor Jalal promise “something more powerful than fighting.” The tone here is more subtly surreal than the baroque conclusion of the first book: an oppressively sinister atmosphere, punctuated by sudden acts of horror, but leavened by the appearance of fresh characters like the sassy Scratch Sisters, the hulking Orrible Twins and the hero-worshipping kitten Jess. Said’s spare, taut writing effectively propels an increasingly grim plot, and makes Varjak’s growing maturity and leadership appear both natural and admirable. It’s a rare sequel that so surpasses its predecessor; one hopes the neatly resolved plotlines don’t preclude further installments. (Fantasy. 10-14)
Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-75044-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
Themes of freedom and responsibility twine between the lines of this short but heavy novel from the author of Because of Winn-Dixie (2000). Three months after his mother's death, Rob and his father are living in a small-town Florida motel, each nursing sharp, private pain. On the same day Rob has two astonishing encounters: first, he stumbles upon a caged tiger in the woods behind the motel; then he meets Sistine, a new classmate responding to her parents' breakup with ready fists and a big chip on her shoulder. About to burst with his secret, Rob confides in Sistine, who instantly declares that the tiger must be freed. As Rob quickly develops a yen for Sistine's company that gives her plenty of emotional leverage, and the keys to the cage almost literally drop into his hands, credible plotting plainly takes a back seat to character delineation here. And both struggle for visibility beneath a wagonload of symbol and metaphor: the real tiger (and the inevitable recitation of Blake's poem); the cage; Rob's dream of Sistine riding away on the beast's back; a mysterious skin condition on Rob's legs that develops after his mother's death; a series of wooden figurines that he whittles; a larger-than-life African-American housekeeper at the motel who dispenses wisdom with nearly every utterance; and the climax itself, which is signaled from the start. It's all so freighted with layers of significance that, like Lois Lowry's Gathering Blue (2000), Anne Mazer's Oxboy (1995), or, further back, Julia Cunningham's Dorp Dead (1965), it becomes more an exercise in analysis than a living, breathing story. Still, the tiger, "burning bright" with magnificent, feral presence, does make an arresting central image. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7636-0911-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001
BOOK TO SCREEN
A skillful sequel that adds new layers to a coming-of-age story.
In this follow-up to Ghetto Cowboy (2011), 14-year-old Cole convinces his mother to let him stay in Philadelphia with his father and beloved horse, Boo, instead of returning to Detroit.
Cole and his dad, Harper, are still learning to navigate their father-son relationship after years of being estranged. As they figure out their new arrangement, Harper says Cole has to get a job to help earn his keep as well as Boo’s. Working as a stable hand at a nearby military academy, Cole meets young cadets who are strikingly different from him in socio-economic class and attitudes—and who seem to have it out for him from the start. Fortunately, Cole also meets and befriends Ruthie, a Black girl on the polo team who shares his love for horses. She is in a minority at the school due to her race and sex; the friendship offers mutual support. While working there, Cole develops a growing attraction to Ruthie as well as an interest in possibly attending the academy someday. But is this world just too different from his own for him to even get a foot in the door? And is he ready to leave everything he’s known behind? In this entry, Neri gives readers a look into another type of equestrian life while maintaining the tone and style readers appreciated in Cole’s cowboy journey, including an evocative voice and situational code-switching. Final illustrations not seen.
A skillful sequel that adds new layers to a coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0711-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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