A tender and evocative story about a beloved pet that strays too far from its main premise.
Caruthers explores themes of friendship, loyalty, and perseverance in this middle-grade historical novel.
The narrative opens on 10-year-old Marlene, who lives in rural Tennessee during the Great Depression. During summer break, she helps her family with chores, spends time with her 6-year-old brother, Silas, and makes regular trips into town to barter eggs at Mr. Butler’s grocery store. On one of these trips, she encounters a redbone coonhound “cut loose and left behind” by his previous owner. A cruel local, Mr. Arthur, says he would shoot the stray if only the sheriff would let him. Marlene asks her parents if she can bring the dog home, but they refuse due to financial constraints. Still, Marlene fixates on the stray, whom she nicknames “Red,” and after a marked change in Marlene’s mood, her father relents and says Marlene can have the dog. The only problem is catching the skittish canine; Marlene establishes a daily routine of tracking the dog, sticking “right with him like pine sap.” On one of these walks, Red abruptly runs away after spying Mr. Arthur, who threatens to kill the hound. Marlene begins leaving bowls of food scraps outside, and Red begins to eat. One morning, Marlene finds Red incapacitated; she later surmises that Mr. Arthur poisoned the dog. Doc Baker treats Red, and the dog goes home with Marlene. Marlene’s mother is displeased, exclaiming, “that miserable beast is going to have to go!” But when Red performs a heroic act, her opinion changes.
Caruthers effectively immerses readers in 1930s ambiance through the details of Mr. Butler’s grocery store, storytelling locals, and vernacular like “afeared” and “tweren’t.” She paints a vivid image of Red with details like, “He had a kink in his tail, as though it had been broken in a slammed door or gate and had grown back crooked. His ribs stuck out like the slats of an old washboard.” The authors’ unique similes are sensory-rich: Marlene’s skirt “lightly clung to [her] skin like a cicada’s exoskeleton” on a humid day; Mr. Butler lifted her egg basket as though it were “as light as one of Mama’s prize-winning biscuits.” Readers can feel Marlene’s emotions through somatic descriptions like, “My heart thudded like it was going to pop clean out of my chest and ricochet across the room.” However, Marlene’s obsession with Red seems unhealthy, causing her to lose sleep and become physically ill with worry over the dog. Marlene’s feelings toward Red are often melodramatic—she bristles at a birthday present of tickets to a Shirley Temple movie because the thought of leaving Red for a few hours “crushed [her] very soul.” Some young readers may not understand some of the archaic terms and references, like when Marlene describes her father’s job as “catch-as-catch-can” or the day’s temperature as “hot as the pits of Hades.” A racially charged subplot in which Marlene testifies against Mr. Arthur in a murder trial also feels inappropriate given the book’s target audience and main subject matter.
A tender and evocative story about a beloved pet that strays too far from its main premise.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781649090843
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Starbright Books
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The success of Mah’s memoirs (Falling Leaves, 1997, for adults and Chinese Cinderella, 1999, for kids) led to her well-received novel Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society (2005) and historical overview China: Land of Dragons and Emperors (2008). Here, she tries to combine them all, blithely and unwisely stepping beyond her literary capabilities. Readers initially meet CC (the character from the previous novel) on what seems to be a mission in World War II China. Chased, she falls and enters a coma. A doctor hypnotizes her, and readers shift to the Song dynasty and CC’s previous life in a star-crossed romance, observing the scene in the famous painting Along the River at the Qing Ming Festival. Both setting and emotional tension rely heavily on cliché and exclamation points. The author abuses dialogue to cram in historical details (a visitor exclaiming “Good tea!” is treated to an encyclopedic definiton of white tea). It is unclear what story she is trying to tell: the romance? the story of the painting? the bookend of CC’s coma, which will be inexplicable to readers unfamiliar with the previous novel? As none succeed, the question may go unanswered. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73895-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Elsie doesn't know what's worse: living in the garage with your mom, grandmother and uncle behind the house that used to be home or having your father abandon you. Then her mother and uncle also leave, supposedly for jobs. Her miserable situation is all because of the Depression, which is affecting families everywhere. Her best friend, Scout, who is going to be a newspaperman, helps her search for her dad. But when Rev. Hampton takes them to see the dance marathon to show how exploitative it is, clues begin to add up. The Canadian setting and dialogue establish context for the terms hoboes, shantytowns and the phrase, "could you spare a dime." Though today’s readers won’t be familiar with the Depression, dance marathons or references to Bing Crosby, cribbage and Eaton’s catalog, the search for family and relationships in tough times rings true. The evocative title refers to the coins thrown at a favored dance couple. Once past the unappealing cover, readers will find an absorbing and perceptive story. (Historical fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55469-280-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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