Some of Bellairs' recent sorcery/mystery-adventures (e.g., The Curse of the Blue Figurine) have made the characters as important as the spookery. Here, however, the accent is on a wild, ghoulish plot, even if the laconic narration and wry dialogue keep things from getting heavy or morbid. As in The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn (1978), Bellairs' hero is 14-year-old Anthony Monday, growing up in mid-1950s rural Minnesota—with lots of moral support from elderly librarian Miss Eells, his best friend. And the trouble begins when Miss Eells, fending off the boredom of a temporary assignment to a dead "hick town" branch, leads Anthony on a hike to the abandoned Weatherend estate of "major fruitcake" J. K. Borkman: Anthony finds the late Mr. Borkman's handwritten memoirs—all about his apocalyptic ideas on weather-control magic—under some rotting boards. Could there be a link, then, between crazy Borkman and the bizarre weather that soon starts afflicting Minnesota? Anthony thinks so; Miss Eells disagrees. ("You're making a big fat hairy mistake.") But what about the sudden arrival of Borkman's creepy, bearded son Anders—who secretly hypnotizes Anthony and Miss Eells into some highly strange behavior? (Miss E. goes berserk at a prim library tea.) Isn't it obvious that Borkman Jr. "is a cold-blooded fanatic who will stop at nothing to carry out the ghastly plans of his maniac father?" It is indeed. So, with help from Miss E.'s lawyer-brother Emerson, Anthony and Miss E. launch an attack on Weatherend—only to find themselves repelled by homocidal leaves and other occult forces. Then, determined to learn the Borkman family secrets, they set off for a cemetery in Duluth (the resting place of Borkman Sr.). And finally, after contending with Borkmanesque obstacles along the way (blizzards, shape-shifting goblins), they invade the Borkman tomb and have a creepy showdown with Borkman Jr.—a non-human entity who is handily destroyed (by not-very-persuasive forces). Anthony is less three-dimensional here than he was in his debut; the plot gets murky and frenetic at the close. But Miss Eells remains a no-nonsense, imperfect guardian angel—and there's a nice balance most of the way through between folksy charm and gently intense suspense.
Pub Date: May 1, 1984
ISBN: 014038006X
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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