Poor Pepper Roux (his nickname “le pauvre,” or “pitiful one,” was confused at school with “poivre,” French for “pepper”) has been waiting for death for as long as he can remember. According to his malevolent Aunt Mireille, Saint Constance had foretold he’d die by age 14, and due to his rather awful family’s quotidian reminders of this, “The days clattered down like rows of dominoes.” When he finds himself still alive on his 14th birthday, Pepper escapes, and the string of adventures and grim-reaper–dodging identity shifts that follows (from sea captain to telegram boy) comprise this laugh-out-loud funny, picaresque adventure set in early-20th-century France. British novelist McCaughrean’s frequently over-the-top metaphors mirror the delightfully implausible plot—a slapstick story salted with colorful characters both cruel and kind, anchored in the emotional reality of a painfully naïve boy who gets quite a bit wiser. The refrain—“Well, people see what they expect to see. Or do they see what they want?”—sits at the heart of this poignant, odd, wonderfully composed and vastly entertaining novel. (Fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-183665-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Big brother Duane is off in boot camp, and Justin is left trying to hold the parental units together. Fat, acne-ridden, and missing his best friend Ben, who’s in the throes of his first boy-girl relationship with Cass, Justin’s world is dreary. It gets worse when he realizes that all of his mother’s suspicions about his father are probably true, and that Dad may not return from his latest business trip. Surprisingly ultra-cool Jemmie, who is also missing her best friend, Cass, actually recognizes his existence and her grandmother invites Justin to use their piano in the afternoons when Jemmie’s at cross-country practice. The “big nothing” place, where Justin retreats in time of trouble, is a rhythmic world and soon begins to include melody and provide Justin with a place to express himself. Practice and discipline accompany this gradual exploration of his talent. The impending war in Iraq gives this story a definite place in time, and its distinct characters make it satisfying and surprisingly realistic. Misfit finds fit. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-56145-326-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2004
“Imagine an age when there were still people around who’d seen U.S. Grant with their own eyes, and men who’d voted for Lincoln.” Fifteen-year-old Howard Leland Hutchings visits his father’s family in Grand Tower, Illinois, in 1916, and meets four old people who raised his father. The only thing he knows about them is that they lived through the Civil War. Grandma Tilly, slender as a girl but with a face “wrinkled like a walnut,” tells Howard their story. Sitting up on the Devil’s Backbone overlooking the Mississippi River, she “handed over the past like a parcel.” It’s a story of two mysterious women from New Orleans, of ghosts, soldiers, and seers, of quadroons, racism, time, and the river. Peck writes beautifully, bringing history alive through Tilly’s marvelous voice and deftly handling themes of family, race, war, and history. A rich tale full of magic, mystery, and surprise. (author’s note) (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-8037-2735-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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