A worthwhile read that personalizes the conflicts that led to the American Revolution.
DeMitchell’s YA historical novel is based on American Revolutionary Paul Revere’s legendary ride to Portsmouth, N.H.
When Revere set out to warn the citizens of Portsmouth, N.H., that British regulars were already on their way to Fort William and Mary on New Castle Island to seize the store of gunpowder, many in New Hampshire and Massachusetts immediately responded by taking the fort and imprisoning its soldiers. However, the information was inaccurate. DeMitchell tells the story through the eyes of two young boys, 14-year-old Andrew Becket and 13-year-old John Cochran, set on opposite sides of the conflict as misunderstandings compound and eventually lead to violence. DeMitchell states most of the characters, save for Beckett and the supporting character Joseph Reed, are based on actual people, though the account is fictionalized. Whatever liberties she might have taken with the history, DeMitchell has a talent for the small details that result in a vivid story. Readers feel the rush of the icy Piscataqua River as Beckett tries not to fall off the edge of a barge full of people and the strain of physical work. The story also avoids easy characterizations of heroes and villains; Beckett and Cochran are simply kids trapped in extraordinary circumstances. Gov. Wentworth could easily have been the scapegoat as a native New Hampshire man taking orders from the crown, but he comes across fully rounded. He, too, is trapped as he tries to stay loyal to the king while avoiding violence and advancing free trade in the colonies. DeMitchell’s aim is to provoke thought about the incidents that led to war. Beckett and Cochran feel like real people with real needs rather than handy political constructs or symbols: Beckett wants to avoid conflict and concentrate on bettering himself to get into Harvard, while Cochran feels loyalty to the crown through his father’s position in charge of the defense of Fort William and Mary.
A worthwhile read that personalizes the conflicts that led to the American Revolution.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1932278927
Page Count: 161
Publisher: Mayhaven Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A raw, spirited, sometimes uneven tale of adventure and intrigue.
A young thief defies a brutal crime lord in this reimagining of 1820s Paris.
The French Revolution has failed, and the royals have restored order by day. But at night, it is the city’s criminals who rule, forming guilds bound by the laws of the Miracle Court. When famine strikes, young Nina’s avaricious father sells her older sister to the Tiger, the Lord of the Guild of Flesh, and Nina flees and becomes a burglar—the Black Cat of the Guild of Thieves. In time, Nina’s exploits win the admiration of allies from all classes of society. Meanwhile, the poor still starve, the royals poison them to suppress uprisings, and the other Lords cannot stop the Tiger from enslaving women. When the Tiger tries to seize Nina’s beautiful, innocent, young friend, Nina orchestrates a plot to kill him and save his victims, whatever the price. Grant’s debut is crowded with characters and events; the action feels rushed, with leaps of logic and time that can leave readers puzzled. But the narrative shines in its depictions of the gritty criminal underworld and its fierce and resourceful heroine. Nina has olive skin and black hair from her Algerian mother, and several characters are brown-skinned and dark-eyed. The Miracle Court is described as a place where race doesn’t matter (along with social class and religion), unlike the all-white royal court.
A raw, spirited, sometimes uneven tale of adventure and intrigue. (map, Miracle Court guide and laws) (Historical fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7285-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A fictional but realistic tale of how two New York City teens survived the unthinkable together.
After the 9/11 attacks, a New York City high schooler takes in a traumatized teen girl suffering from temporary amnesia.
On Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, white, 16-year-old Kyle Donohue flees from Stuyvesant High School in downtown Manhattan toward his home in Brooklyn Heights. While running across the Brooklyn Bridge, he spots a white girl covered in ash and wearing elaborate costume wings, so he makes a split-second decision to keep her safe. Kyle takes the scared "bird girl" to his apartment, where his uncle, who uses a wheelchair and is recovering from a spinal-cord injury, is the only person waiting. Kyle's dad is an NYPD officer who's working around the clock at ground zero, while his mother and younger sister are stuck at LAX, unable to return to New York. The bird girl can't remember much of anything, but as the days unfold, she begins to recover flashes of her memory and to become attached to sweet Kyle, who's clearly smitten. But they both know she'll eventually need to leave the bubble of security they've created. The author tells their story in alternating points of view, his in prose and hers in spare, erratically spaced verse that effectively communicates her disorientation. A love letter to the New Yorkers who rallied together, this is also an exploration of the intense bonds that form during a crisis. Detailed and well-researched, it's sure to make young readers curious about those unforgettable days after the twin towers fell.
A fictional but realistic tale of how two New York City teens survived the unthinkable together. (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-250-09552-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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