Freymann-Weyr, Garret. The kings are already here.Houghton Mifflin Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. The company's headquarters is located in Boston's Back Bay. It publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers . 149p. c2003. 0618-26363-2. $15.00. JS Freymann-Wehr is part of a new generation of writers for YAs and her first books, My Heartbeat and When I was Older, have received a lot of praise. The Kings are Already Here continues her writing about highly intelligent adolescents who are struggling to find their places within their families and in their world. There are two narrators, one a gifted American ballet American Ballet was the first professional ballet company George Balanchine created in the United States. The company was founded with the help of Lincoln Kirstein, and was populated by students of Kirstein and Balanchine's School of American Ballet. dancer (Phebe), one a gifted Russian chess player (Nikolai). The two meet in Geneva Geneva, canton and city, Switzerland Geneva (jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. , Switzerland during a time when both are considering their futures. (The author spent time in Geneva as she grew up, visiting her grandfather who was the director of the International Rescue Committee--Phebe's father Clarence Father Clarence is fictional character of Pine Valley on the American TV soap opera, All My Children. He is portrayed by Malachy McCourt, a priest who shows up to give inspirational advice to Pine Valley citizens. He is also known for his annual Christmas-time appearances. in the novel is a career diplomat in such an organization.) All right, we've established that these characters aren't exactly the boy and girl next door. Phebe, who has been completely immersed im·merse tr.v. im·mersed, im·mers·ing, im·mers·es 1. To cover completely in a liquid; submerge. 2. To baptize by submerging in water. 3. in ballet studies for years, has for some unknown reason wavered in her focus just as she is reaching for a professional career in dance. Her parents suggest that she take a break from the ballet academy and live in Geneva for the summer with her father to try to understand what she wants to do next. When Phebe meets Nikolai, a young Russian chess prodigy Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child her father is trying to help, she understands that he is immersed in the beauty of chess just as she has been consumed by ballet, In helping him understand his ambition, her own ambition becomes clearer to her. The ambition of course involves intense competition and complete focus, It means that Phebe will only have ballet in her life; it means there is no room for other interests; she wonders if this is what she wants. Nothing about a Freymann-Weyr story is easy. There are concepts here that are challenging for any reader--the intricacies of the chess game especially. She says she studied to prepare for this novel, "indebted to a variety of books on both chess and ballet." It is wonderful that YA readers are treated with such respect by Freymann-Weyr, who understands many will be fascinated by the sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. of Phebe's search for what is most important in her life. |
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