Swanson debuts with a brief but consistently high-quality gathering of unrhymed observations and meditations about sleep, dreams, night, nature, family, and other topics. The language is simple but sonorous (``Where is it going, the train on the bridge?/And the wail of the whistle?'') and displays a fondness for unexpected metaphor—night is a running girl, for example- -plus an ability to create whole stories in a few lines. ``Karla's Worries'' keep her awake, while another child's dark mood changes as he helps his grandmother make french toast (``Nick and the Stale Bread''); ``Joanie Ice-skating After Dark'' finds a world of adventure, as does ``Ben Under The Blanket.'' Catalanotto's shadowy, soft-edged pictures are all details of a wreath-shaped pencil dreamscape reproduced at the end. A promising collection, evocatively illustrated. (Poetry. 8-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-7894-2468-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997
Categories: CHILDREN'S POETRY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A girl’s birthdays mark parallel tragedies for her broken family unit.
Last year’s celebration at a restaurant ended in an unexplained public shooting, and Nora’s mother died. She and her father are still wrestling with their trauma, Nora with a confirmed diagnosis of PTSD. For this year’s outing, Nora and her father head into the deserts of the Southwest on a rock-climbing expedition. They descend into a 40-foot deep slot canyon, then hike along inside until a flash flood barrels through the canyon, washing away all their supplies…and Nora’s father. She’s left to survive this symbolic and living nightmare on her own. Thankfully, she can make continuous use of her parents’ thorough training in desert knowledge. Brief sections of prose bracket the meat of the story, which is in verse, a choice highly effective in setting tone and emotional resonance for the heightened situation. Bowling’s poems run a gamut of forms, transforming the literal shape of the text just as the canyon walls surrounding Nora shape her trek. The voice of Nora’s therapist breaks through occasionally, providing a counterpoint perspective. Nora is White while two characters seen in memories have brown skin. The narrative also names local Native peoples. Elements of the survival story and psychological thriller combine with strong symbolism to weave a winding, focused, stunning narrative ultimately about the search for healing.
An edge-of-your-seat read. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-49469-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
What can a good kid do when his big brother starts being a problem?
Twelve-year-old Trace Reynolds, who is White and Puerto Rican, wants to get noticed for the right reasons: good grades, Little League, pulling weeds for Mr. Cobb next door. Seventeen-year-old Will used to be the best brother, but now he’s so angry. He’s played football since he was a little kid and has been tackled plenty; when he gets horrifically hurt in a JV game, it’s just one too many head injuries. It’s been a year and a half since Will’s traumatic brain injury, and he’s got a hair-trigger temper. He has chronic headaches, depression, and muscle spasms that prevent him from smiling. Trace knows it’s rotten for Will, but still, why did his awesome brother have to give up all his cool friends? Now he argues with their dad, hangs out with losers—and steals Trace’s stuff. At least Trace has a friend in Catalina Sánchez, the new girl on Little League. Her dad’s a retired major leaguer, and she has sibling problems too. Observations from Trace frame Cat as praiseworthy by virtue of her not being like the other girls, a mindset that conveys misogynistic overtones. The fears of stable, straight-arrow athlete Trace are clarified in lovely sparks of concrete poetry among Hopkins’ free verse, as he learns to tell adults when he sees his beloved brother acting dangerously.
Compassionate optimism for a boy who can’t control the chaos around him. (author's note) (Verse novel. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-10864-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
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