Even readers with little interest in the theater will be drawn into this portrayal of the creative process. Ten-year-old Antonio is intrigued to learn that old Mr. Guzman in the ground-floor apartment is a renowned actor. When knocking on his door proves fruitless, Antonio decides to attract his attention by putting on a play in the building’s yard. Antonio knows next to nothing about plays or acting, but as he prods four equally clueless friends into talking and thinking, brainstorming, posing problems, and proposing solutions, gradually something wonderful begins to take shape—a simple comedy that continues to grow and change even while the children are performing it before an audience of parents and local residents. Guzman sees, and applauds, and invites Antonio into his apartment where another wonder waits: a hidden room, in which Guzman can re-enact each of his significant performances on a small stage with casts of exquisitely carved figurines. In an all-too-brief tutelage before falling ill and dying, Guzman introduces Antonio to the essentials of creating a role, of developing narrative, even of stage design. It’s only a bare beginning, but enough to change Antonio in profound ways. Gary L. Blackwood’s Shakespeare’s Scribe (2000) and Kate Gilman’s Jason and the Bard (1993) vividly capture the brawl and excitement of theater, but in its own restrained, contemplative way, Hirsch’s US debut may teach readers more about its soul. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0747-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this riveting futuristic novel, Spaz, a teenage boy with epilepsy, makes a dangerous journey in the company of an old man and a young boy. The old man, Ryter, one of the few people remaining who can read and write, has dedicated his life to recording stories. Ryter feels a kinship with Spaz, who unlike his contemporaries has a strong memory; because of his epilepsy, Spaz cannot use the mind probes that deliver entertainment straight to the brain and rot it in the process. Nearly everyone around him uses probes to escape their life of ruin and poverty, the result of an earthquake that devastated the world decades earlier. Only the “proovs,” genetically improved people, have grass, trees, and blue skies in their aptly named Eden, inaccessible to the “normals” in the Urb. When Spaz sets out to reach his dying younger sister, he and his companions must cross three treacherous zones ruled by powerful bosses. Moving from one peril to the next, they survive only with help from a proov woman. Enriched by Ryter’s allusions to nearly lost literature and full of intriguing, invented slang, the skillful writing paints two pictures of what the world could look like in the future—the burned-out Urb and the pristine Eden—then shows the limits and strengths of each. Philbrick, author of Freak the Mighty (1993) has again created a compelling set of characters that engage the reader with their courage and kindness in a painful world that offers hope, if no happy endings. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-08758-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
Four fifth-graders are recruited by a scheming magician in this hefty bonbon from the author of the Fablehaven tales. At first, Nate, Summer, Trevor and Pigeon think they have it good. Having asked them to help her recover a hidden treasure that (she says) belongs to her, Belinda White, friendly proprietor of a sweets shop that has just opened in their small town, provides some uncommon candies—like Moon Rocks, that give them the ability to jump like grasshoppers, and literally electrifying Shock Bits. When she begins asking them to commit certain burglaries, though, their exhilaration turns to unease, and rightly so; Mrs. White is actually after a draft from the Fountain of Youth that will make her the world’s most powerful magician. And, as it turns out, she isn’t the only magician who’s come to town—not even the only one whose magic is tied to sweets. Filling out the supporting cast with the requisite trio of bullies, plus magical minions of various (and sometimes gross) abilities, Mull trots his twist-laden plot forward to a well set-up climax. Leaving the door open an inch for sequels, he dishes up a crowd-pleaser as delicious—if not so weird—as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . (Fantasy. 10-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59038-783-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2007
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