Writing under a pseudonym, a mother-and-son team sets out to view the ancient Greek mythological landscape from a reverse angle in this captivating trilogy opener. The Olympians have been on top for a long time, but their adversaries, the older gods, are stirring. Into this simmering conflict fall young Corydon, a shepherd outcast for having a goat’s foot, and his trio of surrogate mothers. They are the bickering but affectionate gorgons Euryale and Sthenno, who have taken him under their metal-feathered wings, and Medusa—cast here as a smart, snarky single mother carrying Poseidon’s child and transformed by Athena into snake-haired hideousness because of it. Joining a contentious rabble of fellow monsters, this uncommonly mixed family squares off against Perseus, a glib, hunky bully who has raised an invading army with relentless marketing and plenty of help from his dad Zeus. But the climactic battle, capped by Medusa’s heartrending, heroic sacrifice, turns out to be a skirmish in a larger struggle—in which Corydon has some central role to play, if he can but discover what and how. Reading this witty, profoundly sapient take on the old tales will leave readers impatient for the sequels. (Fantasy. 11-15)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83382-X
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure
A Prohibition-era child enlists a gifted pickpocket and a pair of budding circus performers in a clever ruse to save her ancestral home from being stolen by developers.
Rundell sets her iron-jawed protagonist on a seemingly impossible quest: to break into the ramshackle Hudson River castle from which her grieving grandfather has been abruptly evicted by unscrupulous con man Victor Sorrotore and recover a fabulously valuable hidden emerald. Laying out an elaborate scheme in a notebook that itself turns out to be an integral part of the ensuing caper, Vita, only slowed by a bout with polio years before, enlists a team of helpers. Silk, a light-fingered orphan, aspiring aerialist Samuel Kawadza, and Arkady, a Russian lad with a remarkable affinity for and with animals, all join her in a series of expeditions, mostly nocturnal, through and under Manhattan. The city never comes to life the way the human characters do (Vita, for instance, “had six kinds of smile, and five of them were real”) but often does have a tangible presence, and notwithstanding Vita’s encounter with a (rather anachronistically styled) “Latina” librarian, period attitudes toward race and class are convincingly drawn. Vita, Silk, and Arkady all present white; Samuel, a Shona immigrant from Southern Rhodesia, is the only primary character of color. Santoso’s vignettes of, mostly, animals and small items add occasional visual grace notes.
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure . (Historical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-1948-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
A skirmish over a favorite stuffed rabbit nearly destroys a friendship and the toy itself, but well-timed physical and emotional bandaging saves the day. When a little boy moves in next door to a little girl they quickly becomes friends and start sharing toys. This works well for cars, trucks, bears, and balls, but when the boy shows up with a new stuffed rabbit, cooperation goes out the window. In the ensuing tug-of-rabbit, each child yanks on the poor bunny’s ears until the stitching gives way. Figuring out a way to repair the rabbit also eventually patches up the friendship. Minor battles rage in homes and preschools everywhere, so children and adults alike will appreciate this subtle example of a peaceful resolution to toy disputes. Jahn-Clough’s pleasantly stubby children convey both healthy loud-mouthed anger and substantial charm. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-93545-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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