Hob is a helpful household presence, fond of babies and, less often, also visible to children; unfortunately, he has greedily donned clothes given him by a grateful human and can't adopt a new home until he gets rid of them. He boards a London bus and, still encumbered by his hat, is powerless to counter the mischief of its resident Gremlin. The Gremlin absconds with both bus and hat, setting Hob free but causing driver Charlie's dismissal, and Hob joins Charlie's family in their move to Fairy Ring Cottage, left by Charlie's great-uncle. The move is not felicitous; a neighbor is a witch and the uncle a sorceror, entrapped beneath the cottage with a pot of gold coveted by a Goblin King of such power that Hob is sure combatting him will mean his own end. Still, it's his nature to try to save his family from the evils that now surface. In short paragraphs and the simplest of sentences, Mayne conjures up a friendly spirit whose worldview is childlike yet enchantingly un-human. Hob is of all times and none, loves his present comforts (including a cup of tea) but is vague about past and future, communes with inanimates (each of unique character: ``Hob had to deal with Hole, who came in on a shoe and began to nest in a carpet. Hole went to live in a road with workmen to feed him...''); he's incapable of forethought but knows where menace lies and is determined to defeat it. And so he does, in a ripsnorter of a conclusion with the Gremlin reappearing on another bus. Both comical and suspenseful, a tour de force from one of Britain's greats; a perfect companion to Cooper's The Boggart (1993) and Diana Wynne Jones's ebullient fantasies. (Fiction. 10+)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 1-56458-713-4
Page Count: 140
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
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
A child finds that being alone in a tiny tropical paradise has its ups and downs in this appealingly offbeat tale from the Australian author of Peeling the Onion (1999). Though her mother is long dead and her scientist father Jack has just sailed off on a quick expedition to gather plankton, Nim is anything but lonely on her small island home. Not only does she have constant companions in Selkie, a sea lion, and a marine iguana named Fred, but Chica, a green turtle, has just arrived for an annual egg-laying—and, through the solar-powered laptop, she has even made a new e-mail friend in famed adventure novelist Alex Rover. Then a string of mishaps darkens Nim’s sunny skies: her father loses rudder and dish antenna in a storm; a tourist ship that was involved in her mother’s death appears off the island’s reefs; and, running down a volcanic slope, Nim takes a nasty spill that leaves her feverish, with an infected knee. Though she lives halfway around the world and is in reality a decidedly unadventurous urbanite, Alex, short for “Alexandra,” sets off to the rescue, arriving in the midst of another storm that requires Nim and companions to rescue her. Once Jack brings his battered boat limping home, the stage is set for sunny days again. Plenty of comic, freely-sketched line drawings help to keep the tone light, and Nim, with her unusual associates and just-right mix of self-reliance and vulnerability, makes a character young readers won’t soon tire of. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-81123-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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