With a series of shocked responses to an apparently random murder, Walter (Hi, Pizza Man, 1995) challenges readers to make sense of a senseless act. On his 13th birthday, Robbie Jones takes his father's handgun, shoots an elderly Korean store owner, then crouches numbly in a tree until apprehended. Why? Robbie's teacher (``He was never a behavior problem''), classmates (``a geeky little guy''), parents (``He wasn't a bad boy''), witnesses, lawyer, and police officers are all mystified. Robbie disappears into prison without offering an explanation, and only a few enigmatic clues emerge: his infatuation with a classmate; his tough-talking, utterly clueless father; the superhero he and a friend create whose specialty is helping children in trouble. The book is obtrusively designed; using an array of typefaces, blocks of text clipped and pasted at an angle, and dark, distorted, computer- manipulated photo-montages, Roeckelein creates an ominous, sometimes disorienting atmosphere that suggests a turmoil in Robbie that never shows up in the text. Only near the end does he make a statement, and that indirectly, with a comic-book scenario in which Megaboy, sensitive to ``unspoken cries for help,'' makes ``a human child born on the wrong planet'' his sidekick. An eerie, disturbing puzzle that leaves readers to identify and assemble the pieces themselves, with results that may not be satisfying. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-7894-2488-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
Basing her novel on a one-page story written by an 11-year-old child shortly before her death from leukemia, Bennett (Life in the Fat Lane, 1998, etc.) creates a tale of courage personified. A herd of miniature zebras appears before Becky Zaslow on the day she is diagnosed with childhood cancer—leukemia. During times of painful treatment, the zebras take Becky away to Africa and the Serengeti where they fight off tough predators, cross the treacherous crocodile-filled Mara River, and tell tales about Zink, a mythological polka-dotted zebra. Becky’s secret journal outlines the course of each treatment and is interspersed with the tale of these playful zebras; they help her to remain courageous despite her fears. The zebras, not medical professionals, prepare Becky for death when her bone marrow transplant fails and she succumbs to a respiratory infection. As one of the zebras, Ice Z, tells her, “True courage is admitting we’re afraid and fighting the predators anyway.” After her death, Becky, as Zink, joins the zebra herd. With three pages of acknowledgments and a lengthy afterword, readers may gain more than they need to know about the true aspects of this poignant story, but the embellishments don’t interfere with the raw emotions explored, or the power of Becky’s journey as she learns to run with the herd. (glossary) (Fiction 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-385-32669-6
Page Count: 222
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A melodramatic tale of a young snowboarder with terrifically bad judgement. First, Declan worms his way into the “Urban Xtreme Team,” a gang of Vancouver graffitists; then, when they perish in a self-started fire and he opts for a six-week rehabilitation stint in the mountains, he responds to the jeers of a rival by nearly killing himself three times, snowboarding down slopes that are beyond his ability. The third time is actually a suicide attempt, but in surviving it, he ends up straightening himself out. Declan picks up the rudiments of snowboarding with convenient ease, the cast is composed of types, and readers unfamiliar with the sport may stumble over the jargon; still, for solid vicarious entertainment, the plot is comprised of nonstop wild rides, avalanches, and wipe-outs. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1999
ISBN: 0-8225-3307-3
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
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