Pull out the best adjectives for a luminous comic novel- -Wunderli's first—about two boys coming of age in 1939 in Thistle, Utah. At his grandfather's wish, Two Moons—a Navajo—lives with Matt's family in order to go to school. When the boys are 11, Two Moons goes through the Navajo ceremony to become a man. Matt's induction into adulthood is wilder and funnier, a wonderfully realized fantasy: his fascination with flying becomes an obsession, and he actually pilots (and crash-lands) a WW I plane the two have helped refurbish. Meanwhile, the boys' irrepressible pranks are related in Matt's rollicking voice—a rare blend of Huck Finn and Clyde Edgerton. Midway, the bittersweet begins to interweave with the comic: a fierce old neighbor turns out to be mourning his young son; Two Moons's grandfather dies, and his tribe decrees that Two Moons must go to his gruff, unloving older sister. The characters in this beautifully crafted debut novel are casually introduced, but each ultimately plays an important role. Matt's parents are tellingly drawn with a few incidents: firm yet indulgent. Matt participates in several Navajo rituals, culminating when he is given a Navajo name (``Blue Between Clouds''). The Navajo's gentleness and earth-protectiveness ring clear and—along with its fun and its fast pace—the story is memorably tuned to the need for fantasy and hope in every life. (Fiction. 10+)
Pub Date: April 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-8050-1772-0
Page Count: 114
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1992
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
This profoundly moving story is all the more impressive because of its basis in fact. Although the story is fictionalized, its most harrowing aspects are true: “Today, more than two hundred million children between the ages of five and seventeen are ‘economically active’ in the world.” Iqbal Masih, a real boy, was murdered at age 13. His killers have never been found, but it’s believed that a cartel of ruthless people overseeing the carpet industry, the “Carpet Mafia,” killed him. The carpet business in Pakistan is the backdrop for the story of a young Pakistani girl in indentured servitude to a factory owner, who also “owned” the bonds of 14 children, indentured by their own families for sorely needed money. Fatima’s first-person narrative grips from the beginning and inspires with every increment of pride and resistance the defiant Iqbal instills in his fellow workers. Although he was murdered for his efforts, Iqbal’s life was not in vain; the accounts here of children who were liberated through his and activist adults’ efforts will move readers for years to come. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85445-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2003
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