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MAN OF THE FAMILY

A touching novel, part historical fiction and part family story, from Karr (The Great Turkey Walk, 1998, etc.); the protagonist is based on her father, whose family fled Hungary before WWI. Istv†n Csere’s parents immigrate to South Jersey and begin the hard struggle to make a living running a chicken farm. Istv†n’s first job is to baby-sit his four younger brothers and sisters. When his father goes away to work, Istv†n gradually takes over. His mother insists that he continue with school, violin practice, and farm chores; in the meantime, many hardships befall them. The incubator, set too hot, kills the baby chicks after they’re hatched, the mortgage man has to be dealt even though there is no money, and Istv†n’s mother is so homesick that she can’t eat. When Apa (the father) returns, the family’s life improves, but only temporarily; Apa grows sick and dies. Istv†n, at age 11, attends his father’s funeral and becomes the man of the family. This is a moving tribute to a fragile American family; Karr writes with feeling of the trials and tribulations their new homeland holds out, and the bittersweet triumph of their survival. (glossary) (Fiction. 10-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1999

ISBN: 0-374-34764-6

Page Count: 179

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999

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THE SECRET JOURNEY

Taking a page from Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990), Kehret (I’m Not Who You Think I Am, p. 223, etc.) pens a similar story of a girl who goes to sea. Determined not to be separated from her seriously ill mother, Emma, 12, embarks on a plan that results in the adventure of a lifetime. Sent to live with Aunt Martha and her arrogant son, Odolf, Emma carefully plots her escape. Disguising herself in her cousin’s used clothes, she sneaks out while the household slumbers and stows away on what she believes to be a ship carrying her parents from England to the warmer climate of France. Instead, the ship is the evil, ill-fated Black Lightning, under the command of the notorious Captain Beacon. Emma finds herself sharing quarters with a crew of filthy, surly, dangerous men. When a fierce storm swamps the ship, Emma desperately seizes her chance to escape, drifting for several days and nights aboard a hatch cover and finally carried to land somewhere on the coast of Africa. Hungry, thirsty, and alone, Emma faces the daunting prospect of slow starvation, but survives due to a relationship she builds with a band of chimpanzees. This page-turning adventure story shows evidence of solid research and experienced plotting—the pacing is breathless. Kehret paints a starkly realistic portrait, complete with sounds and smells of the difficult and unpleasant life aboard ship. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-671-03416-2

Page Count: 138

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999

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BACH'S BIG ADVENTURE

PLB 0-531-33140-7 Ketcham’s first book is based on an allegedly true story of a childhood incident in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. It starts with a couple of pages regaling the Bach home and all the Johanns in the family, who made their fame through music. After his father’s death, Johann Sebastian goes to live with his brother, Johann Christoph, where he boasts that he is the best organist in the world. Johann Christoph contradicts him: “Old Adam Reincken is the best.” So Johann Sebastian sets out to hear the master himself. In fact, he is humbled to tears, but there is hope that he will be the world’s best organist one day. Johann Sebastian emerges as little more than a brat, Reincken as more of a suggestion than a character. Bush’s illustrations are most transporting when offering details of the landscape, but his protagonist is too impish to give the story much authority. (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: March 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-531-30140-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Orchard

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999

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