Both principals narrate this tempestuous, erratically rhymed version of the classic story of the battle between Arachne (in black text) and Athena (in red). When Arachne refuses to share credit for her astonishing woven art with Athena, goddess of weavers, dubbing all of the gods “parasites,” she finds herself face to face with the eight-foot-tall goddess herself. Defiantly, Arachne creates a series of tapestries depicting the gods as malicious, ridiculous figures. Recognizing a kindred spirit (“I threw down my disguise, / staring deep into her eyes, / and wondered, drawing nearer, / was I gazing in a mirror?”), Athena hastily has the North Wind destroy Arachne’s work, and strikes her with a shuttle, perhaps to forestall more drastic punishment from on high. Arachne “too proud, too strong, too clever,” proceeds to hang herself, forcing Athena to transform her into a spider to save her life. Beginning with the blood-spattered cover illustration, and climaxing with a downright eerie close-up of a spider with an eight-eyed, but otherwise human, face and delicate hands and feet on the ends of long, long limbs, Drawson’s stylized paintings strongly reflect the story’s melodrama. Athena and the gods are presented in strong, firm lines, Arachne and other mortals in slightly softer ones, perhaps as an indication of their stature. It is only when they are face to face, that both are drawn in the same grain. In the end Arachne, still unbowed, crows that Athena is forgotten while her own descendants “thrive / weaving our story again and again, / to the planet’s end— / even then, we will survive.” The tale’s Freudian overtones may give even adult readers a new perspective on classical mythology; younger ones of a certain temperament will respond to Arachne’s furious rejection of authority, however self-destructive that rebellion turns out to be. A powerful, disturbing debut for Hovey. (Picture book/folktale. 11+)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82901-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Year-round fun.
Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”
This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ghanaian teenager Gloria Bampo has hit a rough patch. She failed most of her school exams, her long-unemployed father has lost himself to religion and her mother is ravaged by a mysterious sickness. Her one consolation, her older sister Effie, has discovered boys and all but disappeared. Gloria is offered a job in a distant city with Christine, a doctor who needs househelp. Her father is quick to assent, with one condition: In lieu of payment, Christine must take responsibility for Gloria's future and adopt her as a sister. Gloria adjusts easily, studies hard and explores her newfound freedom. But when the temptations of her new life—brand-name clothes and handsome doctors—prove hard to resist, a misunderstanding cuts a rift between Gloria and Christine. Each must confront class stereotypes and re-examine the meaning of family. Badoe's sharp and engaging prose unfolds the story with spryness, deftly navigating readers through heady social issues. But she wastes readers' goodwill at the end with a conclusion both haphazard and overly moralistic, jarringly out of place in this otherwise thoughtful and well-excuted novel. (Ghanaian glossary) (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-88899-996-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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