Children's Book Reviews

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Hawkes Harbor by S.E. Hinton
Tor, September, 2004
Hardcover, 251 pages
ISBN: 0765305631
Ages Young Adult
Ordering information:
Amazon.com

Hawkes Harbor
by S.E. Hinton

S. E. Hinton is the bestselling author of The Outsiders and other novels for young adults that have been very well-received by both young people and teachers. Now she has turned her talent to writing a novel that bends genres and uses very adult themes. Hawkes Harbor is a combination adventure and horror tale that will intrigue the reader from the mysterious arrival of a young mental patient at the local mental hospital to the sudden and unexpected event that ends the story.

Using a flashback technique very effectively, Ms. Hinton sustains the reader's interest in the story of Jamie Sommers who arrives at the Terrace View Asylum in a state of hysteria in January, 1967. Dr. Phillip McDevitt, the director of the asylum, is puzzled by the young man who appears to become extremely agitated as dusk approaches each evening.

The mystery of Jamie Sommers' mental collapse becomes more fascinating as the story reveals that he has had a very adventurous life as a seaman. Jamie had made friends with an unscrupulous Irish adventurer named Kellen Quinn, who is a father figure to the young man. Their adventures in ports all over the world make up the adventurous part of the story. Then when the pair ends up in Hawkes Harbor, things take on a more sinister tone. Kellen is hoping to pull a scam on a local wealthy woman. Jamie moves into a local boarding house where some children tell him about a hidden treasure in an old estate called Hawkes Hall situated on a remote peninsula. No one ever goes there because the local people feel that the place is tainted with evil. Jamie is drawn to the place, and a frightening and violent event there changes his life forever.

Hawkes Harbor evokes all the ancient mystery and haunting evil of New England. As the story of Jamie Sommers unfolds, strange events become plausible but intriguing. Slowly we are drawn into the dark reality that begins to completely transform Jamie Sommers as a human being. S.E. Hinton's combination of adventure and horror entertains until the last unexpected trauma that provides salvation for not only Jamie but for Kellen Quinn and the strange master of Hawkes Hall.

--Sarah Reaves White

Once Upon a Time: Creative Writing For Kids by Annie Buckley and Cathy Law
Hardcover, September, 2004
Chronicle Books
ISBN: 0811842274
Ages 8 and up
Ordering information:
Amazon.com

So how do you teach creative writing to very young children? Creative Writing Fun for Kids uses an an outstanding method for introducing grade school children to the basics of fiction writing. The colorful cards teach story construction in a fun way. First, one draws a How To card, such as "Great Beginnings". The card explains the beginnings of a story, gives examples, asks the children how each beginning makes them feel etc. Then they are told to pick a Character card, a Setting card and an Object card to use with the new story. The cards lead the child through the plotting, all the way up to the ending. This would make a marvelous project for the classroom or at home on the weekends. With 50 cards, the ideas are really endless. Who knows, maybe you'll create your own little Shakespeare, Austen or Hemingway.

The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable
Scholastic, March, 2004
Hardcover, 297 pages
ISBN: 0439554780
Ages Young Adult
Ordering information:
Amazon.com

The Singer of All Songs
by Kate Constable

There must be something in the water in Australia; the Aussie invasion of talented childrens' authors continues unabated with Kate Constable's The Singer of All Songs, the first entry in a spellbinding new fantasy series. Calwyn is a Daughter of Tarsis, a noviate in a convent of priestesses who are mistresses of the ice call, the power to control ice, wind and rain with song. The priestesses' duties include maintaining the giant and inpregnable Wall of ice that protects their idyllic valley of Antaris from the warring other nations of Tremaris. When a wounded Outlander named Darrow manages to breach the ice wall, Calwyn helps him to the infirmary. The stranger tries to tell the priestesses of a great danger that pursues him, but they dismiss his warnings as blasphemy. But Darrow's warning that the evil sorcerer Sanis is learning all Nine Chantments that control the world is all too true. So Calwyn helps him escape, leaving behind the valley that has been her home all of her life.

A richly-imagined fantasy world provides an intriguing backdrop for the adventures of Calwyn and the other friends that she meets on her quest. Calwyn learns of the other Chantments which can control the wind, create fire and talk to animals, among other things. She also learns that the chanters are being hunted for their powers. There is a dose of hard-edged reality mixed in with the fantasy; Calwyn suffers losses and heartache, along with finding friendship and hints about the answers she seeks about her own past. Kate Constable is an author that American audiences are sure to embrace.

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Children's Book Reviews

Hawkes Harbor by S.E. Hinton

Once Upon a Time: Creative Writing For Kids by Annie Buckley and Cathy Law

The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable