In a compelling novel, Thesman (The Ornament Tree, 1996, etc.) combines a tale rich in family ties and homey comforts with history that is unsettling and unpleasant. In Depression-era Seattle, Quinn Wagner, 15, copes with a houseful of relatives, a mother in poor health, an older sister who dropped out of school to work, and an exasperating kid brother. Her father, affectionately called Beau John by all, is the emotional linchpin and center of his extended family, his tales and stories cherished by them and his unobtrusive acts of kindness known to the whole neighborhood. But he is away save for one night a week, chasing work. When Quinn overhears a conversation that hints at her father's unsavory and dangerous employment, she keeps it and her growing fears to herself. Knit seamlessly into the tale are rabidly anti-communist Catholics, Hoovervilles where homeless men live in shacks and search futilely for jobs, and Prohibition-era rum-running; meanwhile, Quinn's family and friends deal endlessly but ingeniously with financial hardship. As the summer goes on, Quinn finds her affection growing for her elderly neighbors' nephew and, as she learns of the lengths to which her father has gone to help support them, develops a more complex, less black-and-white outlook regarding Beau John's business. The denouement is satisfying but not simpleit's a small light the future holds. Above all, Quinn's story puts a human face a time most readers only know by its namethe Depression. (Fiction 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-395-80978-9
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1997
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
A satisfying story of family, friendship and small-town cooperation in a 21st-century world.
Sent to stay with octogenarian relatives for the summer, 14-year-old Mike ends up coordinating a community drive to raise $40,000 for the adoption of a Romanian orphan. He’ll never be his dad's kind of engineer, but he learns he’s great at human engineering.
Mike’s math learning disability is matched by his widower father's lack of social competence; the Giant Genius can’t even reliably remember his son’s name. Like many of the folks the boy comes to know in Do Over, Penn.—his great-uncle Poppy silent in his chair, the multiply pierced-and-tattooed Gladys from the bank and “a homeless guy” who calls himself Past—Mike feels like a failure. But in spite of his own lack of confidence, he provides the kick start they need to cope with their losses and contribute to the campaign. Using the Internet (especially YouTube), Mike makes use of town talents and his own webpage design skills and entrepreneurial imagination. Math-definition chapter headings (Compatible Numbers, Zero Property, Tessellations) turn out to apply well to human actions in this well-paced, first-person narrative. Erskine described Asperger’s syndrome from the inside in Mockingbird (2010). Here, it’s a likely cause for the rift between father and son touchingly mended at the novel's cinematic conclusion.
A satisfying story of family, friendship and small-town cooperation in a 21st-century world. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: June 9, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25505-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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