Phoebe Rose and her mother are homeless, abandoned by Daddy with no resources to support them, but shelters and a suitcase. In the bus depot restroom, Phoebe Rose loses even the suitcase, and Mama sends her home to Gram in the country. As Johnson (Hurricane Henrietta, 1998, etc.) portrays it in free verse, Phoebe Rose’s emotional maturity develops rapidly. Arriving at Gram’s where there are chickens laying eggs, immediate friendships on offer, and Full Moon Lake to enchant her, Phoebe Rose thinks she’s found heaven, only wishing for a sign out front to confirm it. Realistically, she fears losing this new comfort as well as wondering if Mama has abandoned her. Gram’s revelations about Mama’s past and the family quarrel that separates them help Phoebe to understand her mother in a new way. The verse has moments of insight: “Without that suitcase to hold me down / I can’t walk straight, think I might blow away / down the street / like a cartoon tumbleweed.” The blankness and anonymity of life in the city contrasts nicely with the energy and lush greenery of the country, but it all starts to fit together too neatly, too quickly. The arrival of her first period on her 12th birthday—instead of her expected mother—is an example of how symbols and events mesh in unlikely ways. Once one has accepted the condensing of these events and rapid maturity of the narrator, the effect is slightly less sentimental, but without a doubt Johnson is trying to tug at heartstrings. The use of free verse for novels has gained sudden popularity, but this particular effort could have used a slower pace, a separation between poems, and some grit. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2002
ISBN: 1-886910-87-1
Page Count: 134
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2002
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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
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