A bright but most unlikely caper, set in Boston's Public Gardens where Enid, 14, babysits overprotected little Joshua Cameron. (On their first day out she starts to "love" him.) In the Gardens—where Enid, who hates her real name, becomes Cynthia, and Joshua becomes Tom Terrific—the two meet tall, black Hawk, in his 30s or 40s, who plays the saxophone, and an old bag lady who mumbles that the popsicle man no longer carries her favorite flavor, root beer: ". . . they never asked anybody, really, they just decided that about root beer without consulting anyone, they always do that. . . ." Well, Enid/Cynthia gets the idea that all the bag ladies should picket the popsicle man. Hawk organizes the ladies, and the event is a success. . . which only spurs Enid on to a grander scheme: taking the bag ladies on a midnight ride in a Swan Boat. ("There are 24 seats on each Swan Boat. I pictured 24 bag ladies, erect as royalty, their eyes bright. . . .") Hawk, implausibly, goes along with the scheme; Enid's friend Seth Sandroff (dubbed General Sethsandroff for the occasion) shows up with a bolt cutter for the Swan Boats' cable; Enid brings "Tom," who's in her care that Saturday night (he's always wanted to ride in a Swan Boat); and then the bag ladies appear: "Coming now from behind the bushes, statues, and trees," they gather on the dock "like a congregation standing in a dim cathedral." On the boat, they all sing "Stardust" to Hawk's sax; and when the song ends they are all arrested (without serious consequence, however). From the subsequent newspaper writeups, Enid learns that Hawk is Wilson B. Hartley, Ph.D., a professor of sociology at Harvard; Tom Terrific is heir to a fortune; and "their" bag lady is Julia Simpson Forbes, a millionaire's widow and resident of the Ritz. (The others are real bag ladies.) Lowry writes with verve and awareness, and she makes it clear that this is not to be taken for realism: "There was something about the whole enterprise that was like a fantasy, and that made the fake names seem okay." The trouble is that the fantasy comes off as a silly, sentimental-liberal pipedream that trivializes the realities she wants to transcend.
Pub Date: April 27, 1983
ISBN: 0395340705
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
