Appalled by the experimental surgery on two baboons, African-American Jess and Australian David escape with them to the bush near where their scientist parents are working. Their barely formulated idea is to return the baboons to the wild; but Papio, with four electrodes in his head, is unnaturally passive, while big scars on Upi's chest betray why she has no stamina. At first it seems too soon to abandon them; even after both are adopted by a baboon tribe (along with the humans, who are accepted more warily), it seems necessary to protect them: Upi can't keep the pace when the baboons move on. Meanwhile, step by inexorable step, the young people become outlaws, stealing food from an African village and challenging the white hunter sent to find them—and to cruelly attack the baboons. In the end, battling the hunter, David and Jess lose sight of their purpose and unwittingly cause the destruction of the baboons. This Australian author (most notably, Baily's Bones, 1989) can be relied on for suspense—and for raising moral concerns in imaginatively provocative settings. The chief issue here is not so much animal rights as how a reasonable defense can degenerate into maintaining an untenable position at all costs. Meanwhile, some of the premises strain credulity, especially the ease with which the kids irrational—and then, in an epilogue, normal again. Still, a thought-provoking thriller with a respectable grounding in natural history and human nature. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-8037-0900-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1992
Year-round fun.
Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”
This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Drawing on her experience with a relief organization on the Thai border, Ho tells the story of a Cambodian family, fleeing the rival factions of the 80's while hoping to gather resources to return to farming in their homeland. Narrator Dara, 12, and the remnants of her family have arrived at a refugee camp soon after her father's summary execution. At first, the camp is a haven: food is plentiful, seed rice is available, and they form a bond with another family- -brother Sarun falls in love with Nea, and Dara makes friends with Nea's cousin, Jantu, who contrives marvelous toys from mud and bits of scrap; made wise by adversity, Jantu understands that the process of creation outweighs the value of things, and that dead loved ones may live on in memory. The respite is brief: Vietnamese bombing disrupts the camp, and the family is temporarily but terrifyingly separated. Later, Jantu is wounded by friendly fire and doesn't survive; but her tragic death empowers Dara to confront Sarun, who's caught up in mindless militarism instigated by a charismatic leader, and persuade him to travel home with the others—to plant rice and build a family instead of waging war. Again, Ho (Rice Without Rain, 1990) skillfully shapes her story to dramatize political and humanitarian issues. The easily swayed Sarun lacks dimension, but the girls are more subtly drawn—Dara's growing courage and assertiveness are especially convincing and admirable. Touching, authentic, carefully wrought- -and with an unusually appealing jacket. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-374-31340-7
Page Count: 163
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1991
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