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A Thief in the House of Memory |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
 Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0374374783 |
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From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 7-10–Six years ago, when Declan Steeple was 10 and his sister was just a baby, his mother, Lindy, disappeared, searching for something better than the dusty family estate with its generations of clutter and memory. Now the Steeples live in a modern split-level down the hill from the Big House, but the mansion is still there, filled with a past that hides secrets. When a local man is found dead in the house, memories of Lindy and her unhappiness living there suddenly become a pressing weight on Dec, compounded by the fact that he and his sister were the ones to discover the body. The teen feels lost and suspicious; his father seems to be hiding something and Dec realizes how much has never been discussed. This is a beautifully written novel, slim and surprising but ultimately... |
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Ned Mouse Breaks Away |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0888994745 |
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From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-Ned Mouse, a political prisoner sentenced to life for writing negative things about the government (using pureed spinach), is desperate to escape jail, but his attempts are always thwarted by his dumb-as-a-post prison keeper. After 17 years, a letter from an old friend prompts him to try a daring new escape; he mails parts of himself to Morty, a few pieces at a time. He fashions replacement parts out of tin so as not to raise suspicion. All goes according to plan until most of him is residing happily by the sea with Morty, and only a tin replica is left in prison (except for his writing arm, which he had to leave behind to wrap and address the last package). The tone of this surreal story is both quirky and matter-of-fact. Readers will become so fond of this tenacious mouse with an amazing facility... |
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Ned Mouse Breaks Away |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0888995946 |
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| Availability: |
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From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-Ned Mouse, a political prisoner sentenced to life for writing negative things about the government (using pureed spinach), is desperate to escape jail, but his attempts are always thwarted by his dumb-as-a-post prison keeper. After 17 years, a letter from an old friend prompts him to try a daring new escape; he mails parts of himself to Morty, a few pieces at a time. He fashions replacement parts out of tin so as not to raise suspicion. All goes according to plan until most of him is residing happily by the sea with Morty, and only a tin replica is left in prison (except for his writing arm, which he had to leave behind to wrap and address the last package). The tone of this surreal story is both quirky and matter-of-fact. Readers will become so fond of this tenacious mouse with an amazing facility... |
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Some of the Kinder Planets |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0140380698 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From Publishers Weekly
Eight agreeably quirky stories feature unusually believable characters who find themselves in novel situations. Ages 10-14. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7?This collection of nine short stories offers offbeat vignettes of contemporary life as well as tales of ghosts, aliens, and historical figures. Clear writing combines with clever concepts and varied subject matter to make the book accessible and enjoyable to a wide audience. Male and female characters of all ages are convincing and well rounded, an especially impressive achievement given the brevity of the pieces. While not all of them are intended to be funny, Wynne-Jones has a light touch that serves him well whether his topic is serious or humorous. Also, a... |
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Architect of the Moon |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0888991509 |
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Boy in the Burning House |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0374309302 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
From its opening scene, in which a teenage girl overhears her stepfather's creepy confessions, to its terrifying conclusion in a deserted mine shaft, Tim Wynne-Jones's The Boy in the Burning House has the magnetic energy of a well-crafted made-for-television thriller, without pausing for commercial breaks. Like the best of the TV thrillers, The Boy in the Burning House features a smiling, unredeemable villain: Father Fisher, who leads the Church of the Blessed Transfiguration in a remote farming community. Fourteen-year-old Jim Hawkins's father, Hub, has disappeared, and Ruth Rose, the pastor's stepdaughter, tries to convince him that Fisher killed Hub. If that possibility isn't unsavory enough, Jim discovers that his dad and Fisher were both involved in a fire that killed another teenage boy 30 years before. It... |
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Boy in the Burning House |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0374408874 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
From its opening scene, in which a teenage girl overhears her stepfather's creepy confessions, to its terrifying conclusion in a deserted mine shaft, Tim Wynne-Jones's The Boy in the Burning House has the magnetic energy of a well-crafted made-for-television thriller, without pausing for commercial breaks. Like the best of the TV thrillers, The Boy in the Burning House features a smiling, unredeemable villain: Father Fisher, who leads the Church of the Blessed Transfiguration in a remote farming community. Fourteen-year-old Jim Hawkins's father, Hub, has disappeared, and Ruth Rose, the pastor's stepdaughter, tries to convince him that Fisher killed Hub. If that possibility isn't unsavory enough, Jim discovers that his dad and Fisher were both involved in a fire that killed another teenage boy 30 years before. It... |
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Boy in the Burning House |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0786244356 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
From its opening scene, in which a teenage girl overhears her stepfather's creepy confessions, to its terrifying conclusion in a deserted mine shaft, Tim Wynne-Jones's The Boy in the Burning House has the magnetic energy of a well-crafted made-for-television thriller, without pausing for commercial breaks. Like the best of the TV thrillers, The Boy in the Burning House features a smiling, unredeemable villain: Father Fisher, who leads the Church of the Blessed Transfiguration in a remote farming community. Fourteen-year-old Jim Hawkins's father, Hub, has disappeared, and Ruth Rose, the pastor's stepdaughter, tries to convince him that Fisher killed Hub. If that possibility isn't unsavory enough, Jim discovers that his dad and Fisher were both involved in a fire that killed another teenage boy 30 years before. It... |
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The Maestro |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0888996373 |
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| Availability: |
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From Publishers Weekly
The wilderness of northwest Ontario is a fitting setting for this tantalizing coming-of-age story about an abused boy, Burl, whose pervasive sense of isolation is cracked by an encounter with a famous pianist. When Burl runs away from home, he follows the sound of piano music and finds its source in an unlikely, pyramid-like cabin. There, the Maestro, as Burl is instructed to call him, having fled busy Toronto and the demands of his public, is trying to finish writing his great oratorio before he dies. When the quirky Maestro leaves Burl in charge of the cabin and his grand piano, Burl thinks he's found a haven-but it's not long before events hurl the teen into a web of other people's plans and back to his own family trauma. Wynne-Jones's (Some of the Kinder Planets) builds strong, multidimensional characters;... |
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On Tumbledown Hill |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0889951861 |
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From School Library Journal
Gr 2-4-An artist and his pet rabbit head to Tumbledown Hill, a location that provides a pastoral view for painting and clover for nibbling. However, 26 monsters soon disrupt the scene, turning tranquillity into playful chaos. The painter declares, "It's/much better/to paint/when you're scared/than to faint," and proceeds to ignore them until they've fled. Or have they? On his canvas, the artist has captured the unruly pranksters, who are children, as images in the hillside greenery and the rolling clouds. This book opens with a full page of large, blocked-letter words in bricklike frames. With each turn of the page, some of the word bricks disappear and are replaced by illustrations. The device used in the book is not made clear until the last page, when Wynne-Jones explains, "A story in twenty-six... |
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Some of the Kinder Planets |
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| Author: |
Tim Wynne-Jones |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0613005163 |
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| Availability: |
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From Publishers Weekly
Eight agreeably quirky stories feature unusually believable characters who find themselves in novel situations. Ages 10-14. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7?This collection of nine short stories offers offbeat vignettes of contemporary life as well as tales of ghosts, aliens, and historical figures. Clear writing combines with clever concepts and varied subject matter to make the book accessible and enjoyable to a wide audience. Male and female characters of all ages are convincing and well rounded, an especially impressive achievement given the brevity of the pieces. While not all of them are intended to be funny, Wynne-Jones has a light touch that serves him... |
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