Once again Paulsen (The Tent, p. 474) proves that less is more in a short but extremely powerful cautionary tale. Four sections limn the elements of the story: the creation of the gun and its path through history, the life of a boy, the moment when the boy and the gun are "joined," and the rifle's fate after that event. This is Hitchcock's bomb under the bed: The suspense is nearly killing, yet from the 1768 scenes of the crafting of this "sweet" rifle, Paulsen forges descriptions to rival any he has written, and readers—on any side of the gun-control issue—must linger over each phrase. Gunsmith Cornish McManus's rifle shoots farther and truer, maybe, than any firearm ever created. The rifle's next owner, woodsman John Byam, depends on the gun for his livelihood; his skill picking off British officers during the Revolution becomes legendary. Upon his death the rifle falls into the hands of a woman who hides it in her attic, where it lies undetected for more than two centuries. In 1993 it is discovered and changes hands several times before finding a place over the fireplace in the home of Harv Kline, a decent man. When Harv and his wife light the decorative candles on their mantel for Christmas Eve, the stage is set for a horrifying sequence of events that results in the death of a neighbor's 14-year-old son. Paulsen is at the peak of his powers in a book that is as shattering as the awful events it depicts. Unforgettable. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-15-292880-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995
A promising premise let down by execution that leaves readers adrift.
An entitled heir to a viscountcy runs away to the high seas in this debut set in 18th-century England.
Stifled by the expectations of his emotionally withholding father, 17-year-old Christopher-Henry Mortimer Davenport, aka Kit, runs away the night before his wedding and talks his way aboard the ship Deliverance, which is about to leave Falmouth, not realizing that its merchant activities are less than legal. Luckily, Captain Reggie Sharpe, who’s from the Caribbean and has brown skin and locs, needs a new bookkeeper since the last one mysteriously disappeared, and he takes Kit on despite his snobbish attitude and lack of sailing experience. Kit spends several months working to win over the crew before discovering that he’s fallen in with pirates. Just as he’s found his footing in his new life at sea, a betrayal sends him back to England, where he must navigate shocking revelations without support from the sailors he’s come to rely on. Unfortunately, the portrayals and discussions of ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and social class differences lack depth and nuance. Sharpe has little personality outside of bossing Kit around, causing their romance to fall flat. While the book’s tongue-in-cheek foreword states that the author has “tweaked history” but “only as far as it will be entertaining,” the line between deliberate choices and inadvertent anachronisms is sometimes unclear.
A promising premise let down by execution that leaves readers adrift. (content note) (Historical adventure. 14-18)Pub Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 9781665984775
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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
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