Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen
2014; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 68; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2015.0041
ISSN1558-6766
Autores ResumoReviewed by: Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen Kate Quealy-Gainer Yolen, Jane Centaur Rising. Ottaviano/Holt, 2014 [272p] ISBN 978-0-8050-9664-4 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 4–6 By the summer of 1964, thirteen-year-old Arianne has pretty much given up on the notion of magic. Instead, she focuses on more practical pursuits: helping her single mother run the struggling horse farm Arianne’s deadbeat dad left them and caring for her younger brother, Robbie, whose severe birth defects put both emotional and financial strain on the family. Eleven months after Arianne witnesses a strange glow in their meadow following the Perseid meteor shower, one of their horses gives birth to a centaur. The family rallies to care for the creature, whom they name Kai; when their efforts to keep Kai’s existence a secret fail, Arianne and her mother must deal with town gossips, international paparazzi, and the return of Arianne’s money-grubbing father, who sees this “monstrosity” as a way to make a quick buck. Arianne is a warm and likable narrator, and her solid pragmatism makes her easy acceptance of the centaur even more believable—after her initial shock, she simply gets down to the business of caring for Kai. Too often, however, the authorial hand is painfully obvious, from the forced comparisons between Robbie’s and Kai’s conditions, to the conveniently overheard conversations required to move the plot along, to the caricatured and overwrought depiction of the villainous father. Still, Yolen’s blend of gentle fantasy and family drama will certainly be familiar to her fans and may well attract a few newcomers who like their realism dosed with both magic and sentiment. Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 283] Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Referência(s)