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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—This novel set in Sydney, Australia in the Cold War era interweaves actual newspaper accounts of a Russian diplomat's 1954 defection with the day-to-day affairs of a local family with three sisters and a father away on military duty much of the time. Focusing mostly on the fascinations and fancies of six-year-old Matilda, the tale follows her observations of the strange men who have guns and fast, shiny black cars staying at the big house next door. When she sees one of those men in a newsreel about the Russian who defected amidst controversy about the fate of his wife, she lets slip to their other neighbor, a crazy old man with his own gun, that spies live on the other side of her, leading to some action, which is in rather short supply here. A family drama evolves piecemeal in flashbacks to a beach picnic at which the father, continuing to be distraught in the aftermath of World War II, attempts to hang himself while his brother looks on immobile. While key characters are young people, even their dramas of pet parades and teenage nervous breakdowns are unlikely to interest American readers. Even incidents involving Matilda's imaginary companion are strangely flat and unappealing. This plot and its characters won't motivate most children to follow the slow story to its happy conclusion.—Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Horn Book
*"In lucid, poetic prose (Dubosarsky) explores what is at the heart of her story: the intense feeling and acute but partial perceptions of children struggling with a world under threat. This memorable, luminous work is a vital addition to the growing constellation of recent Cold War novels and a stellar read on its own." (Starred review May/June 2007)
See all Editorial Reviews
Grade 5–8—This novel set in Sydney, Australia in the Cold War era interweaves actual newspaper accounts of a Russian diplomat's 1954 defection with the day-to-day affairs of a local family with three sisters and a father away on military duty much of the time. Focusing mostly on the fascinations and fancies of six-year-old Matilda, the tale follows her observations of the strange men who have guns and fast, shiny black cars staying at the big house next door. When she sees one of those men in a newsreel about the Russian who defected amidst controversy about the fate of his wife, she lets slip to their other neighbor, a crazy old man with his own gun, that spies live on the other side of her, leading to some action, which is in rather short supply here. A family drama evolves piecemeal in flashbacks to a beach picnic at which the father, continuing to be distraught in the aftermath of World War II, attempts to hang himself while his brother looks on immobile. While key characters are young people, even their dramas of pet parades and teenage nervous breakdowns are unlikely to interest American readers. Even incidents involving Matilda's imaginary companion are strangely flat and unappealing. This plot and its characters won't motivate most children to follow the slow story to its happy conclusion.—Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Horn Book
*"In lucid, poetic prose (Dubosarsky) explores what is at the heart of her story: the intense feeling and acute but partial perceptions of children struggling with a world under threat. This memorable, luminous work is a vital addition to the growing constellation of recent Cold War novels and a stellar read on its own." (Starred review May/June 2007)
See all Editorial Reviews
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