A novelist with an impressive range—psychological suspense (The Trial of Anna Cotman, 1990), engaging fantasy (The Monster Garden, 1988), and more—takes a markedly different tack with a quest set in ancient Greece and drawing freely on its myths. Phaidon, slave in the court where his uncle Pelops is cook, is a horrified observer when Perseus turns up with Medusa's head and turns the king and his fellows to stone. But at least this affords an opportunity to escape servitude, which he does along with Pelops, another boy (Gordius), and a young man who loved Phaidon's sister Cleo—who was also turned to stone, and whose marble remains encumber their flight. The group's adventures include a run-in with crafty mariners who abandon them on an island before absconding with Cleo; escaping between Scylla and Charybdis (unnamed here) with the help of Iris, a capable young castaway who joins their band; and taking service with a dangerously unpredictable new king, perhaps in accordance with an oracle. Along the way, they encounter three women resembling the Fates, and there are other mythic references (Gordius is good at knots); Phaidon's gift for singing also proves useful. Alcock toys inconclusively with the question of superstition—after all, Cleo is stone and remains so—and fans may be disappointed to find the story amiably petering out in an epilogue rather than coming to a climax in one of the author's incisively addressed moral dilemmas. Still, a good yarn. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-385-30866-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
This profoundly moving story is all the more impressive because of its basis in fact. Although the story is fictionalized, its most harrowing aspects are true: “Today, more than two hundred million children between the ages of five and seventeen are ‘economically active’ in the world.” Iqbal Masih, a real boy, was murdered at age 13. His killers have never been found, but it’s believed that a cartel of ruthless people overseeing the carpet industry, the “Carpet Mafia,” killed him. The carpet business in Pakistan is the backdrop for the story of a young Pakistani girl in indentured servitude to a factory owner, who also “owned” the bonds of 14 children, indentured by their own families for sorely needed money. Fatima’s first-person narrative grips from the beginning and inspires with every increment of pride and resistance the defiant Iqbal instills in his fellow workers. Although he was murdered for his efforts, Iqbal’s life was not in vain; the accounts here of children who were liberated through his and activist adults’ efforts will move readers for years to come. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85445-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2003
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