Sandro, a natural-born skier, sacrifices his ski-championship dreams by working part-time (to help pay the rent) at the ski shop at the resort where he lives with his mom. His weak-minded single mom, despite the fact that his father left her the day after Sandro’s conception, still believes he—a championship skier himself—will one day return to her. Of course, when Alessandro Sr. actually does walk in the door 17 years later, Sandro’s mother immediately leaps into his arms thinking the family is reunited. Sandro predictably wants nothing to do with him, and spends the rest of the story arguing with his father, arguing with his mom about his father, fighting with rival skiers, groaning about being broke, and biting the heads off girls who are way more interested in him than any potential teen reader will ever be. Predictable, unimaginatively dialogue-driven, rhythmically repetitive, and full of flat, unlikable characters, Rottman’s story about skiing, trust, and tough love strives for Chris Crutcher stardom, but unfortunately doesn’t venture further than the bunny slope. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-670-05913-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2004
An affecting supernatural mystery with a pair of brave protagonists.
The disappearance of a child unveils what lies hiding in the woods at the edge of a small town.
There are all sorts of stories about Picnic, Illinois, but it’s not until her toddler cousin, Madison, goes missing from her crib one night that 15-year-old Luce starts to believe them—and especially when she notices a pair of glowing, wolflike eyes through the windows of her house. To everybody’s relief, Madison is returned to her crib, seemingly safe and sound, soon after she vanished, but Luce and the child’s mother notice discomfiting differences in the 2-year-old. And yet, no one else seems to give credence to their concerns. Luce, prompted by a teacher, starts to research Picnic’s history and the many disappearances—and sudden reappearances—of baby girls, going back decades. Meanwhile, deep in the woods, Fanya, who narrates alternating chapters, tends to the baby girl and prepares for the ritual to welcome her as part of her pack when the full moon comes. As Luce’s and Fanya’s stories converge, so do past and present in Lund’s atmospheric novel. The story borrows elements from South Slavic lore about women who turn into animals to tell an affecting tale about small-town secrets, wronged people, and the bravery of two girls bent on getting to the truth in order to save lives. All characters are assumed White.
An affecting supernatural mystery with a pair of brave protagonists. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35109-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This urban-fantasy series opener spices its fight against evil with sexual tension. Fifteen-year-old geek hipster Clary thought she was just a normal kid, but normal kids don’t see invisible people, and normal kids’ mothers don’t suddenly disappear, seemingly captured by horrific monsters. But like many fantasy heroines, Clary isn’t normal, and she’s got all the secret parentage, dramatic revelations and amazing magic powers to prove it. Clary is a Shadowhunter, brought up as a mundane but born to fight demons. She and her mundane friend Simon fall in with a trio of Shadowhunter teens, and are soon embroiled in a quest to understand Clary’s past—and incidentally save the world. Rich descriptions occasionally devolve into purple prose, but the story’s sensual flavor comes from the wealth of detail: demons with facial piercings, diners serving locusts and honey, pretty gay warlocks and cameo appearances from other urban fantasies’ characters. Complicated romantic triangles keep the excitement high even when the dramatic revelations tend toward the ridiculous. Lush and fun. (Fantasy. YA)
Pub Date: March 27, 2007
ISBN: 1-4169-1428-5
Page Count: 496
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
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