A hearty look at city girl making a new home on the range. This sequel begins in 1947 where Love You, Soldier (1991) left off. Katie and her widowed mother arrive in Texas from New York City to begin new lives with Sam Gold, a veteran unscathed by the war that claimed Katie's father four years earlier. In the pages of the diary are the ups and downs of a young girl's adjustment to her stepfather, new home, new school, and, just as she is beginning to settle in, the wrenching news that her mother is pregnant. Katie plans to run away to New York City with a classmate and nearly succeeds before being intercepted, to her mingled relief and fury. Hest has dealt with the stepparent-and-new-baby theme in Where in the World Is the Perfect Family? (1989); the immediacy of the diary format makes her latest effort even more effective. The pages are decorated with ``Katie's'' childish drawings and Lamut's trompe l'oeil illustrations of b&w snapshots slipped into the leaves. Today's 11-year-olds may find Katie unsophisticated, but she is totally convincing in the '40s setting. The ending, as she falls head-over-heels in love with her twin baby brothers and accepts Sam's wish to adopt her, further illustrates the theme of the first book: love is risky, but worth it. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 1-56402-474-1
Page Count: 75
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
The book is a cute, but rather standard offering from Avi (Tom, Babette, and Simon, p. 776, etc.).
An adolescent mouse named Poppy is off on a romantic tryst with her rebel boyfriend when they are attacked by Mr. Ocax, the owl who rules over the area.
He kills the boyfriend, but Poppy escapes and Mr. Ocax vows to catch her. Mr. Ocax has convinced all the mice that he is their protector when, in fact, he preys on them mercilessly. When the mice ask his permission to move to a new house, he refuses, blaming Poppy for his decision. Poppy suspects that there is another reason Mr. Ocax doesn't want them to move and investigates to clear her name. With the help of a prickly old porcupine and her quick wits, Poppy defeats her nemesis and her own fears, saving her family in the bargain.
The book is a cute, but rather standard offering from Avi (Tom, Babette, and Simon, p. 776, etc.). (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09483-9
Page Count: 147
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1995
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