As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
(2)
YA
Alan Bennett is relatively happy living with his mother and grandfather, going steady with Leah Pennington, and playing football. Then Duncan Stein--a highly original character--arrives at Cayuta High. He begins publishing a newspaper and manages to bring romantic intrigue to the school through the power of the press. Extremely humorous at times, the story is also occasionally touched with sadness and poignancy.
(3)
YA
Kerr's latest work, incisive and challenging, is distinguished by a refreshing refusal to soft-pedal the complexities of an illegal immigrant's life, the omnipresence of overt and institutionalized racism, and the inability of love to conquer all. Nonetheless, the romantic entanglement of Esteban, an ambitious but unskilled Colombian, and Annabel, a construction contractor's daughter, ends both provocatively and optimistically.
(4)
4-6
The animals at an East Hampton shelter await Christmas with anticipation. An ill-tempered Siamese finds a home with a young actress; a retired racing greyhound is taken in by a nontraditional family; a lost dog is reunited with his owners. Kerr's talking-animal fantasy is so crowded with incidents and characters that the plot becomes chaotic, but the novel still features the author's characteristic edginess and wisecracking dialogue.
(2)
YA
During WWII, fourteen-year-old Jubal Shoemaker's older brother decides to register as a conscientious objector--a decision that reverberates throughout their small Pennsylvania town. The many voices in the novel offer various perspectives of the conflict. Jubal's earnest quest to define himself is solidly placed within a year of turbulence for his Quaker family, a particular experience of the war infrequently portrayed.
Reviewer: Lauren Adams
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2001
247 pp.
| HarperCollins
| May, 2000
|
TradeISBN 0-06-028435-8$$15.95
|
LibraryISBN 0-06-028436-6$$15.89
(2)
YA
This is familiar Kerr territory: small-town drama, secrets from the past, socioeconomic divides, and a liberal sprinkling of pop culture. Outsiders E.C. and Neal, two fatherless boys, befriend Julie, an awkward girl who's the adopted daughter of the mysterious Mrs. Slaymaster. With a wealth of intrigue and gossip, Kerr conjures an aptly murky atmosphere for her anything-but-serene town of Serenity, PA.
Reviewer: Lauren Adams
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2000
(3)
YA
The introductory note contains Kerr's succinct advice for aspiring writers. The remainder of the book is composed of brief essays explaining the genesis of specific Kerr works, each followed by a short story or selection from the novels 'Little Little, Gentlehands' and others. The autobiographical tidbits and writer's tips are interesting, but the book best serves as a writing sampler (and exemplar) of one of today's finest authors for young adults.