An elegant tale, perfect for golfers and nongolfers alike.
In Rosa’s (Birdie, 2012, etc.) novel, Sam Parma, an observant, self-conscious teenager, learns about life, love, human nature and himself as he caddies for an ex-president at a local golf tournament.
This thoroughly enjoyable, deceptively simple story, ostensibly penned by Sam with the help of his language arts teacher, opens with him awaiting a ride home from the aforementioned match, mooning over what he calls “The Big Goof.”Sam narrates the tale in a kind of teenage-noir style: “Futile—that‘s the word I was looking for....I could’ve used others like useless, pointless, or wasted. Any of those would’ve done just fine. But I decided on futile.” During the round, he engagingly compares the actions of different people in his party; the unnamed ex-president has a friendly but standoffish manner, which contrasts starkly to baseball star Ernie Banks’, who exudes an affable generosity, signing autographs for all who ask. Sam also notes how other caddies’ actions differ from his own. Major, a friendly veteran caddy who coaches Sam, takes notes on the course and checks wind direction by tossing grass in the air; Chip Swanson, a popular, self-important up-and-comer in the golf world, instructs his player in what sounds to Sam like a foreign language: “This one’s a real slider…Play it about three balls to the high side. It falls off past the hole, so careful with the pace. Let it die over the lip.” In the crowd, a girl named Theresa Bellissima seems to be flirting with him, and later provides Sam with a hard-knocks lesson in love. Throughout, Sam entertainingly daydreams, establishing details about his relationships with his family and the world at large. As the story unfolds in flashback,Rosa deftly builds suspense over what the mistake might have been, while also building a relatable character through solid storytelling.
An elegant tale, perfect for golfers and nongolfers alike.Pub Date: July 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9828225-0-0
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Jackpot Press
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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