With her parents in Europe, Iris (Maggie's irrepressible best friend in Getting Even, 1988) is so weary of her oblivious babysitter that she keeps news of their delayed return secret and sends Mrs. Fuller on her way. Walking to the mall (where she's forbidden to go alone), Iris goes to a favorite shop, confides too much of her situation, and is later picked up by the salesman—not a stranger but not as nice as he seems. Iris escapes from his car when he tries to kiss her, telephones Maggie to ask her dad to come get her, and eventually tells her what has happened. The book begins with an overlong, mostly humorous depiction of Iris masking her loneliness by checking out some innocently naughty symbols of her coming adulthood: she's planning to get even with the class bully with the help of a wolf puppet made from a satin wolf-head g-string (male) that will devour his boy crying wolf in a puppet show; she has bought and put on a padded bra just before she's picked up. Still, her 12-year-old vulnerability peeps through in telling details, and the pace comes to full speed with her narrow escape and Jukes's purposeful but skillfully orchestrated conclusion: Maggie hesitates but does the right thing—she tells her parents, who inform the police. Caught by Iris's entertainingly outrageous pranks, readers will stay to enjoy the warm interaction with Maggie's sensible parents and especially between the girls: Maggie, a true friend, concludes by tactfully helping the chagrined Iris to get back on track. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-679-81891-X
Page Count: 183
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1992
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.
After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.
The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice.
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-75106-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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