A quick, enjoyable novel about a teen fugitive scraping by in Arizona.
Clark tells the story of a resourceful runaway in this debut YA novel.
Danny Ockham’s family lives a nomadic life, drifting around the Arizona high desert, sleeping in campgrounds as his alcoholic father looks for work. Thing are more or less bearable until his mother escapes without him, leaving him to contend with the full brunt of his father’s abuse. When his dad gets arrested after accidentally starting a brush fire, 13-year-old Danny takes the opportunity to strike out on his own: “I did not sleep that night; couldn’t find a good spot, no food, and firefighter planes flying around. About dawn, the fire was far away…I snuck down to the creek above where Dad had burned the junk, got some water, washed up and headed up stream.” On his own for the first time, Danny must learn the skills necessary for survival in an unforgiving landscape: foraging, hunting, scavenging, and evading the dangers—human and otherwise—that threaten his safety. Possessed of a resilience formed by his already rough life, Danny manages to make his way on his own terms. He is so successful that when he is presented with the opportunity to return to normal society—maybe even to see his mom again—he faces a difficult choice. Clark’s narration of Danny is direct, simple, and endearing (“On the second try I snagged a small bass for supper. Then, at noon, when the store was busy, I bought some Dinty Stew in the metal can, $3.59. The chocolate bars sure looked good”). Despite its lack of polish and very basic storytelling, the book is genuinely captivating from the beginning, and though Danny is not a character of tremendous introspection, he invites a real emotional investment from the reader. Huck Finn is an obvious comparison, though this tale is not so knowingly constructed. Rather, it reads like an earnest account from a runaway. It’s a short book at only 115 pages, and though Danny’s suggestion of a sequel is handled clumsily, the reader should nonetheless be glad to hear the news.
A quick, enjoyable novel about a teen fugitive scraping by in Arizona.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Muddy Rudder Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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