Lewis Dodge, almost 12, is invited to go on a camping trip to Yellowstone Park with his new neighbors, the Rupes, and their 12-year-old son, Harry. Lewis's twin sister, Alison, is also asked along to help take care of the Rupes two younger children, Billy and Ariadne. At first the Dodge kids are excited by the prospect of nine days with the Rupes' lax rules—all the junk food and videos they can consume—but they soon realize that the trip will not be ideal. The Rupes are all spoiled; they think money can buy amusement, or atone for rudeness and neglect. (The Rupes don't even know that Billy is seriously nearsighted until Lewis tells them.) As Alison slavishly watches the children, Lewis comes upon a mystery: Two men have been following the Rupes' trailer since it left Washington State. When Billy finds a $100 bill in the trailer, Lewis thinks he knows what's going on. One night, thinking that everyone is out for the evening, the two men come looking for their stash. But instead of finding their money, they find the five children, kidnap them, and head toward the Canadian border. Because of the kids' ingenuity, however, they are foiled before they can leave Montana. The elder Rupes really are terrible, but the Dodge siblings come out of this diverting caper intact. The morals about the evils of lenient parenting aren't subtle, but Roberts (Caught, p. 563, etc.) delivers them well. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-689-31939-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
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