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DAWN OF FEAR

Name: DAWN OF FEAR
Author: Susan Cooper
ISBN: 0152061061

by Susan Cooper & illustrated by Margery Gill ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 1970

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A study not a story, really, demonstrating—decisively—just what the title says. Until he and Pete and Geoff build the camp in the ditch, Derek doesn't worry about the air raids; scrambling to the shelter is routine unless you're lucky and, lagging behind, get a look at the Hurricanes intercepting the bombers. Then the camp is smashed by the White Road gang, Geoff's blackbird egg is broken, and Derek's darts, and Pete's prized six-shooter is gone; they'll have revenge, says Tom who's about to go into the Merchant Navy and seems very big, very responsible and resolute, to the younger boys. But the mudball ambush turns into a rough and tumble battle and then, worse, Tom and Johnny Wiggs, long-time antagonists, face each other alone, waiting to spring: "This was the bomb about to go off." The hate that he's seen lodges in Derek, bringing fear that he can't handle; and that night a bomb kills Pete, his lodestone, "and the world he would live in from now on would be a different world." In the sense that the boys have no options, there is no plot; insofar as they are done to, not doers, they are not protagonists; and to that extent the book is handicapped, especially for the reader as young—not more than ten—as the boys here. Their delineation is sure (from a snatch of dialogue you might know them individually and jointly) and Tom, being a surprise, is an uncommon quantity in a juvenile. The book has many excellences but it remains problematic.

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 1970

ISBN: 0152061061

Page Count: 180

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1970

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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FINDING JUNIE KIM

by Ellen Oh ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2021

An intergenerational tale that highlights a girl’s growing confidence and awareness.

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Her grandfather’s story about growing up during the Korean War mobilizes a girl against racism in her own town.

When someone defaces the gym of her suburban Maryland middle school with racist graffiti, Korean American Junie Kim at first doesn’t want to join her outraged friends in protesting. Instead, Junie, who has been facing the racist taunts of a school bus bully every morning, becomes cynical, negative, and depressed. Her resistance alienates her friends, and she endures a brief bout of suicidal ideation; fortunately, her family finds her a therapist she trusts. A school assignment to interview an elder gives Junie a chance to hear about her beloved grandfather’s boyhood during the Korean War. His harrowing tale and her grandmother’s similarly traumatic story offer valuable perspective, and she is inspired to take action by working with her friends to create a video about diversity for an upcoming assembly. Extraneous details sometimes slow the story, the dialogue can feel unrealistically expository, and the alternating narration and time jumps are at times disorienting, but the brutal depictions of life during the Korean War, including the desperate hunt for food and the chaos of evacuation, ring true. Junie’s love for her grandparents—and theirs for her—is movingly portrayed. Their conversations and Junie’s relationships with her diverse friend group sensitively unpack a range of subjects relating to identity and prejudice.

An intergenerational tale that highlights a girl’s growing confidence and awareness. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-13)

Pub Date: May 4, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-06-298798-3

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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THE GAME OF SILENCE

From the Birchbark House series , Vol. 2

by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2005

It’s hard not to weep when white settlers drive the Ojibwe west, and hard not to hope for what comes next for this radiant...

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Readers who loved the ways of Omakayas and her family in The Birchbark House (1999) have ample reason to rejoice in this beautifully constructed sequel.

On Madeline Island in Lake Superior at the midpoint of the 19th century, Omakayas lives the turning of an entire year. In summer, a starving remnant of relatives are taken in and cared for; in the fall, stores are laid up and the group returns to their cabins; winter comes with storytelling, Old Tallow’s coat of many furs, and Omakayas’s sister Angeline beading a vest for the man she loves. In spring, Omakayas goes on her own spirit quest and sees her future clear. Omakayas’s relationships with her prickly brother Pinch, the white child she calls Break-Apart Girl and Two Strike, who scorns women’s work, allow for emotional resonance. She learns not only from the hands of her grandmother, mother and Old Tallow, but by her own sharp observation and practice. Eager readers beguiled by her sturdy and engaging person will scarcely notice that they have absorbed great draughts of Ojibwe culture, habits and language.

It’s hard not to weep when white settlers drive the Ojibwe west, and hard not to hope for what comes next for this radiant nine-year-old. (Fiction. 8-12)