The emotionally satisfying ending underscores the relationship beautifully.
Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie, a Cree-Scottish half-blood, orphaned twice, struggles to find places for herself and her young sister Charlotte among the Hudson’s Bay fur-trading community.
Her birth father abandoned her and her mother when she was an infant, traveling west to the Red River and never returning. She has friends among the white men of the fort, but no place to live; the Cree, who welcome her, are starving. When a mysterious creature swims toward her in a fogbound river, Amelia recognizes it as her pawakan, her spirit-animal, and hopes it will lead her to her true life. The creature is a stallion whose white mistress—the first white woman Amelia has ever seen—is bound for none other than the Red River. Amelia's fascination with the horse leads it to trust her enough to follow her up a swaying gangplank onto a small riverboat; she, Charlotte and the white woman, Orchid, embark on a 600-mile journey west. Harrison sensitively depicts Amelia's feelings of both belonging and abandonment as she stands with her feet in two worlds. The Cree and the white settlers are portrayed accurately and sympathetically, but without sentiment; complicated situations unfold without simple answers. Amelia never believes that the stallion Foxfire belongs to her, only feeling in her heart that they are linked. (A map will be posted on the author’s website.)
The emotionally satisfying ending underscores the relationship beautifully. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59990-845-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates.
Siblings decode familial and wartime secrets in 1940 England.
Headstrong 14-year-old Lizzie Novis refuses to believe that her mother, a U.S. embassy clerk who was working in Poland, is dead. After fleeing from her grandmother—who’s attempting to bring her back to America—Lizzie locates her 19-year-old brother, Jakob, a Cambridge mathematician who’s stationed at the clandestine British intelligence site called Bletchley Park. Hiding from her grandmother’s estate steward, Lizzie becomes a messenger at Bletchley Park, ferrying letters across the grounds while Jakob attempts to both break the ciphers generated by the German Enigma machines and help his sister face the reality of their mother’s likely fate. With a suspicious MI5 agent inquiring about Mum and clues and codes piling up, the siblings, whose late father was “Polish Jewish British,” eventually decipher the truth. Shared narrative duties between the siblings effectively juxtapose the measured Jakob with the spirited Lizzie. Lizzie’s directness is repeatedly attributed to her being “half American,” which proves tiresome, but Jakob’s development from reserved to risk-tolerant provides welcome nuance. The authors introduce and carefully explain a variety of decoding methodologies, inspiring readers to attempt their own. A thoughtful and entertaining historical note identifies the key figures who appear in the book, such as Alan Turing, as well as the real-life bases for the fictional characters. Interspersed photos and images of ephemera help situate the narrative’s time period.
A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates. (Historical mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780593527542
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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