An educational, if slightly uneven, novel of natural disaster.
Gruenberg, the author of Hummer (2021), writes about three young siblings escaping the Great Michigan Fire of 1871 in this historical middle-grade novel.
At church, 11-year-old Lyle Hemmis worries about going to hell as a raging forest fire threatens to overtake his town. His family includes his father; his pregnant stepmother, Winny; his brother, Rudy; and his sister, Aggie. A ringing church bell indicates that the Eagle Fire Company is sending out the horses; as neighbor Mr. Post waters his house down, Lyle selects some string, trinkets, and jacks, as well as his father’s watch, to save. The family leaves their house, but the siblings jump off the surrey when they hear horses in distress at Mr. Boone’s stable. The children rescue five horses, including their own, named Scarlet. Now separated from their parents, the kids decide to follow the crowd, riding or leading the animals as they attempt to find safety. They go into the nearby Black Lake, but then Lyle wonders if the water will heat up or if they could drown. Lyle saves an old woman, whom he later recognizes as their neighbor, Mrs. Flikkema. In a survival scene that some readers may find discomfiting, Lyle and Aggie squeeze the teats of a horse to drink her milk to slake their desperate thirst. Lyle, understandably, cries several times over the course of the story. Later, Winny goes into labor, and Lyle worries that she’ll die in childbirth like his mother. The author’s descriptions of the fire’s effects are vivid, as when soot “burned inside his nose and reddened the rims of [Lyle’s] eyelids.” Gruenberg also clearly and informatively explains firefighting techniques of the time, and touches on salient themes of religion, deforestation, and loss. However, at points, the characters’ speech seems anachronistic; for example, the word backpack wasn’t in use until the early 20th century. That said, because the novel is set across only a few days, it keeps up a good, brisk pace.
An educational, if slightly uneven, novel of natural disaster.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2022
ISBN: 9789198631784
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Kenda Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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