From Publishers Weekly
This novel's subject matter?a boy living alone inside a vacant courthouse?is enticing enough to draw a large audience, but it is Fenner's (Randall's Wall; Yolonda's Genius) convincing portrayal of a homeless child that will hold readers' attention. Ian and his father, a shell-shocked Vietnam war veteran, have taken up residence inside the former Hall of Justice, but when the boy's father doesn't return one evening, the 11-year-old proves to be remarkably resourceful at staying warm, clean and fed, day after day, month after month. Yet even when his stomach is full, he remains hungry for human companionship. When groups of volunteer workers invade his dwelling to transform it into an art museum, Ian hides to eavesdrop on their conversations and to admire the way they convert drab chambers into bright, welcoming spaces. He is especially enthralled by the museum's main exhibit: exotic, beautifully crafted kites, including the "king of dragons." When the museum director ("Lady Leader") unexpectedly returns, catching Ian offguard, he poses as a volunteer?and likes it. The people he has observed from a distance soon become his friends. Readers may find the supporting cast less convincing than the protagonist (e.g., the relationship between Lady Leader and her daughter, with whom Ian forms a close friendship, is inconsistent), but the author's meticulous descriptions of the hero's survival techniques provide insight into his hidden world: a place where meals come from grocery-store samples, school is the public library and games are played inside the imagination. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7-Eleven-year-old Ian and his troubled Vietnam-vet father have been living on the streets by day and sleeping in a deserted courthouse by night. Now, however, the weather is getting cooler, food is becoming scant, and his father has disappeared. Further complications arrive with an arts group's decision to use the vacant building for a kite exhibit. Ian listens in his head to his father's maxims and hides as the volunteers plan for their event. When he sees a marvelously colored and constructed dragon kite, his troubled sleep is comforted by it; and he finds himself unable to keep away from the exhibit and the people running it. He meticulously constructs a family and homeschooling background for himself and becomes indispensable to the group because of what he has learned about kites. In the stillness of the night though, he worries about his dad and longs for his last real days in school, second grade. Fenner does a terrific job of developing the main characters. The origin and expression of the father's paranoia are taken just far enough to let readers know that something is definitely wrong, but it is not dwelled upon. Ian, while often lonely and frightened, has been given a framework, however unusual, of love, ethics, and survival. The revolving viewpoint between father and son, often a tricky technique for young readers, is smoothly crafted and the denouement is logical and satisfying. A lyrical psychological novel with enough action to keep readers interested.
Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KYCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
