Since the publication of The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups (1998), Wisniewski has been dodging the law while continuing his lonely crusade to expose the truth behind those meaningless grown-up rules. The world may rest easy; he has resurfaced long enough to bring more of this duplicity to light. Disguised as the Tooth Fairy, he discovers that the real reason we should brush our teeth is to keep them from starting tooth riots; disguised as a feather duster, he discovers that the real reason we should clean under our beds is to prevent the proliferation of killer dust bunnies; disguised as a mop, he discovers that the real reason we shouldn’t stay in the bath too long is to keep from going down the drain; and so on. The dauntless secret agent employs his X-acto knife to great effect, detailing the prunification of a sleeping bather and the potbellied trapezoid of the four cruddy food groups (salt, grease, sugar, and fat, which when ingested in excess result in brainjacking—shades of the Twinkie defense). Other media occasionally enhance the cut-paper collages; the killer dust bunny, for instance, is a marvelous menace made up of what appears to be actual dust, with gold foil teeth and Cheerio eyes. Those familiar with the first exposé of adult rule-making will recognize that there is absolutely nothing new about this offering; it simply repeats the format and formula of its predecessor while losing some of its zany freshness. It is also only nominally subversive: while couched fancifully, the description of Ginger Vitus’s depredations on teeth and gums would be at home in any dentist’s office. Still, middle-grade kids seem to eat this stuff up, and this will likely move briskly, especially where the first has had success. (Picture book. 7-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-17854-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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