Almond, David. The Fire-Eaters.ALMOND almond, name for a small tree (Prunus amygdalus) of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for the nutlike, edible seed of its drupe fruit. The "nuts" of sweet-almond varieties are eaten raw or roasted and are pressed to obtain almond oil. , David. The Fire-Eaters. Random House, Yearling yearling an animal in its second year of age, e.g. yearling cattle, yearling filly, yearling colt. yearling disease rinderpest in wildebeeste in the Serengheti. . 218p. c2003.0-440-42012-1. $5.99. J To quote from the review of the audiobook in KLIATT, May 2005: In a slice-of-life novel, Bobby Burns, age 12 in 1962, tells of life in a small English town at a disquieting dis·qui·et tr.v. dis·qui·et·ed, dis·qui·et·ing, dis·qui·ets To deprive of peace or rest; trouble. n. Absence of peace or rest; anxiety. adj. Archaic Uneasy; restless. time. He and his mother, on holiday, encounter a fire-eating "escapologist es·cap·ol·o·gy n. The art, skill, or practice of escaping. es  cap·ol ," a troubled man his father recalls from Burma in WW II. His father appears mortally ill with a condition the doctors cannot diagnose. The family is poor, as are their friends; the future looks unpromising. The Cuban missile crisis Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, major cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the USSR increased its support of Fidel Castro's Cuban regime, and in the summer of 1962, Nikita Khrushchev secretly decided to crowds the television news, presaging world destruction. Because he is working class, Bobby encounters discrimination at the Catholic school that had seemed to hold out such hope. He is expelled when he helps an upper-class student expose a vicious discipline authority. Yet, a biology teacher (who gets him reinstated) creates excitement in learning, and Bobby has supportive friends and a beach at which to hang out. Almond's other books for young people have won high awards (and this novel in hardcover has been named a 2005 ALA Best Book for YAs and won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award), but this reviewer believes that most young people, especially in America where the setting and characters are basically unfamiliar, will find the book difficult to read. Edna Boardman, Libn., Bismarck, ND |
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