Although this novel is burdened by various issues of credibility, Hobbs delivers a fast-paced, engrossing read with two characters on opposite ends of the ethical spectrum who meet in the all-too-human middle. Dubbed “little Mister Sunshine” by his mother, good-natured Charlie, 11, has always been the emotionally stable fixer in his family, the one who “jumped in and tried to make things right.” When his mother and father announce that they are separating, Charlie decides to run away from home “to teach his parents a lesson, make them realize what a broken family felt like before it was too late.” Making use of his Boy Scout training, Charlie packs his knapsack with survival gear and takes to the road. The straightforward but emotionally engrossing plot immediately catches fire when Charlie hooks up with Doo—an outwardly tough, inwardly vulnerable 14-year-old girl who is on the run for far more pressing reasons—and culminates when they meet up with some unsavory youth. Without preaching, the simple but eloquent narrative and realistic dialogue illuminate Charlie, a principled child who struggles to keep his head up in increasingly turbulent moral waters. Hobbs asks readers to suspend disbelief through encounters in drug dens and tough-guy police grillings; once they do, the story will have them in its grip. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 28, 2000
ISBN: 0-374-34994-0
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
PLB 0-517-70967-8 Me And My Family Tree (32 pp.; $13.00; PLB $14.99; May; 0-517-70966-X; PLB 0-517-70967-8): For children who are naturally curious about the people who care for them (most make inquiries into family relationships at an early age), Sweeney explains, with the assistance of a young narrator, the concept of a family tree. Photographs become understandable once the young girl learns the relationships among family members; she wonders what her own family tree will look like when she marries and has children. A larger message comes at the end of this story: not only does she have a family tree, but so does everyone in the world. Cable’s drawings clearly define the process of creating a family tree; she provides a blank tree so children can start on their own geneaology.(Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-517-70966-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
One of a four-book series designed to help the very young prepare for new siblings, this title presents a toddler-and-mother pair (the latter heavily pregnant) as they read about new babies, sort hand-me-downs, buy new toys, visit the obstetrician and the sonographer, speculate and wait. Throughout, the child asks questions and makes exclamations with complete enthusiasm: “How big is the baby? What does it eat? I felt it move! Is it a boy or girl?” Fuller’s jolly pictures present a biracial family that thoroughly enjoys every moment together. It’s a bit oversimplified, but no one can complain about the positive message it conveys, appropriately, to its baby and toddler audience. The other titles in the New Baby series are My New Baby (ISBN: 978-1-84643-276-7), Look at Me! (ISBN: 978-1-84643-278-1) and You and Me (ISBN: 978-1-84643-277-4). (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84643-275-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
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