Returning to the vividly portrayed imaginary medieval world of Jackaroo (1985), Voigt tells of another-innkeeper's daughter, two generations later, who also struggles with her society's rigidity on her way to a self-defined, productive life. By chance, Birle sees a stranger (Orien) taking her father's boat; in trying to retrieve it, she unexpectedly joins him on a long, adventurous trek clown the river—during which they only begin to know each other: she realizes that he is of the nobility, while he is soon depending on her competence for life's necessities. Reaching the sea, they founder on a desolate rock; their "rescuers" sell them as slaves in a foreign city. There, Birle is lucky enough to learn healing herb lore, but Orien suffers the humiliation of the mines, from which he barely escapes with his life. Reunited, they agree to marry and return to their own country and to the difficult choices that still await them. Voigt is a master of pure story; her enthralling narratives are seamlessly interwoven with telling perceptions of human nature. Here, the reader is somewhat distanced from characters who are more symbolic than those in her realistic fiction. Birle's master when she is a slave is a kind but amoral philosopher, brother to a cruel despot; in a parallel crucial to Voigt's theme, Orion abdicates rule to his younger brother, a stern but compassionate judge, choosing for himself a simpler, more creative life. A satisfying love story, a grand adventure, and a rich mix of ideas and action.
Pub Date: March 1, 1990
ISBN: 0689829574
Page Count: 421
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1990
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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