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THE BIG WANDER

Spurred on by the legendary status of his cowboy/prospector uncle Clay, and further inspired by James Stewart/John Wayne westerns, Clay Lancaster sets out to explore the Southwest's canyon country. Traveling at first in a rusty $100 pickup with his older brother Mike, then journeying solo with Pal, a burro, Clay searches for his uncle in the canyons of Arizona and Utah. Along the way, Pal gives birth, while Clay finds a stray dog, is given a pony by the Navajo, suffers an infatuation, and finds true love. Ultimately, he ``springs'' his uncle from the jail, where he's being held for rustling wild ponies from their fate at the meat-processing plant so that they won't become extinct. This oddball fantasy, set in 1962, has a winning hero but an idealized view of the Southwest of 30 years ago that may strike some as narrow. The ease and alacrity with which Clay finds jobs, friends, clues, transportation, pets, his uncle, and a girlfriend pass belief, and the burro's overlooked pregnancy is a reed-thin stretch. Still, there are real-life garnishes of the period (bomb shelters; teenagers reading Profiles in Courage); readers who loved Brighty of the Grand Canyon may grow up to appreciate this regional homage as well. (Fiction. 11-14)

Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1992

ISBN: 0-689-31767-0

Page Count: 182

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992

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THE MECHANICAL MIND OF JOHN COGGIN

A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.

The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.

Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)

A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)

Pub Date: April 12, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

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THRIVE

From the Overthrow series , Vol. 3

A thrilling conclusion to a beautifully crafted, heart-stopping trilogy.

This is the moment teens Seth, Anaya, and Petra have both been anticipating and dreading ever since aliens called cryptogens began attempting to colonize the Earth: the chance to defend their planet.

In an earlier volume, Seth, Anaya, and Petra began growing physical characteristics that made them realize they were half alien. Seth has wings, Petra has a tail, and Anaya has fur. They also have the power of telepathy, which Anaya uses to converse with Terra, a cryptogen rebel looking for human allies who could help stop the invasion of Earth. Terra plans to use a virus stored in the three teens’ bodies to disarm the flyers, which are the winged aliens that are both masterminding the invasion and enslaving the other species of cryptogens known as swimmers and runners. But Terra and her allies can’t pull any of this off without the help of Anaya, Seth, and Petra. Although the trio is anxious about their abilities, they don’t have much of a choice—the entire human race is depending on them for salvation. Like its predecessors, this trilogy closer is fast-paced and well structured. Despite its post-apocalyptic setting, the story is fundamentally character driven, and it is incredibly satisfying to watch each protagonist overcome their inner battles within the context of the larger human-alien war. Main characters read as White.

A thrilling conclusion to a beautifully crafted, heart-stopping trilogy. (Science fiction. 11-14)

Pub Date: May 4, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-984894-80-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021

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