This begins with Eleanor of Acquitaine in heaven waiting for the arrival of her second husband, and thus has two strikes against it from the start: it is yet another Plantagenet family chronicle and tries to wrest humor from human bitchiness transplanted into a wholly mundane celestial kingdom. Nevertheless, Eleanor, who characteristically hopes that Henry will be as bored by heaven as she is, redeems herself through the sheer force of her wit and enthusiasm for life. Each of the Queen's heavenly spokesmen — the Abbot Surer, Queen Matilda and William Marshall — draw forth Eleanor's pungent memories: there's the affair of Thomas Becket ("If he were a cow he would have spurted pure cream"), Eleanor's efforts to mold her favorite son Richard into a proper king ("He ought to learn [English] though. . . . It has a great assortment of four-letter words") and her unbending prejudice against Henry's protege John ("Snot and sinew! There is no bone there to hang a crown on"). Viewing Eleanor as a "modern" heroine doesn't make for a very subtle appreciation of the woman or her times, but it does create a sparkling framework for the old story in which John is the villain and Eleanor and Henry's love affair survives perversely through her fifteen years of imprisonment. Having chosen to retain 67 of her years through eternity Eleanor looks back on a full life without regrets; much of the credit for her salvation must go to Konigsberg's diffuse but energetic delight in words — a quality so rare in juvenile literature that even Henry's arrival on the arms of Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln can be forgiven.
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 1973
ISBN: 0689301111
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1973
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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