Jimmy Novak's daredevil prank coincides with a towboat accident on the Mississippi that almost claims his father's life—in a suspense-filled story that should make readers ponder the value of the macho image. "Thonker" was the affectionate nickname that the surgeon who treated Jimmy's knee injury gave his young patients; Jimmy and two of his friends adopt it for their exclusive club, vying with one another as stoical survivors of whatever major or minor pain they encounter—or inflict. When Jimmy's cousin David comes to stay while his widowed mother has heart surgery, they callously exclude him—he's not only younger, but unforgivably wimpy. The three older boys engage in a stunt involving a railroad drawbridge, and are sobered by the danger they finally comprehend after escaping intact; coming home, Jimmy learns that his father is missing—and during the harrowing night that follows, he comes to understand the courage that David has shown during the uncertainty about his mother. Like Bauer's On My Honor, Thonkers makes compellingly real the tragedy that can result from youthful recklessness. Naylor's thoughtless boys are well-drawn, normal kids from warmly loving blue-collar families; Jimmy's Mom—whether wisely waiting for him to make his own peace with David or cleaning cupboards at one a.m. while she waits for news of her husband—is only one of the sharply sketched adult characters. It may take a booktalk to get fifth graders past the title here, but they'll love the book.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988
ISBN: 044040407X
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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