可借阅:*
图书馆 | 资料类型 | 排架号 | 子计数 | 书架位置 | 状态 | 图书预约 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
正在检索... South | Unknown | FIC 22 | 1 | Being cataloged | 正在检索... 未知 | 正在检索... 不可借阅 |
链接这些题名
已订购
摘要
摘要
Jake and Lucy hike to Sheldon Mountain: Jake to prove his dad right or wrong about the wolf he claims he saw; Lucy to escape her father's cruelty. Jake's dad saw the wolf before Jake was born. They say wolves don't live in this country, yet in the night Jake hears it howling, long and lonely. During the hike, both are tested--physically, emotionally, spiritually--but what they find on that dangerous, dark mountain surprises them both. Anbsp;novel written in verse, this Voice of Youth Advocates Poetry Pick is taut and tender, a gripping blend of physical adventure, family drama, love story, and journey of self-discovery.
评论 (5)
《学校图书馆杂志》(School Library Journal)书评
Gr 9 Up-Herrick's verse style perfectly suits this emotionally taut survival story. Sixteen-year-old Lucy has turned bitter and cynical from her farming family's strained relationships caused by her father's physical and emotional abuse. In direct contrast is the other family in this near-barren valley, whose farm's relative prosperity reflects the loving and respectful relationship shared between 15-year-old Jake and his parents. As a young man, Jake's father was sure that he'd seen a wolf, an animal not found in Australia, and now a predator has started picking off his sheep. Lucy thinks it is the descendant of a dog that became wild after her father abused it. The two teens set off on a hike into the mountains to find it after Lucy claims to know where the animal lives. Jake is intent on discovering whether his father is right or wrong, while Lucy just wants to escape from her family and hasn't told anyone where she's going. However, Jake injures his foot in a fall and the two take shelter in a cave and find emotional solace (and romance). Lucy knows that life will be better when she returns home to find that her mother finally confronted her husband and convinced him to leave. Readers will find this novel compelling, its fast-moving narrative rewarding, and the emotions pitched directly at high school readers.-Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
出版社周刊评论
Australian author Herrick (By the River) takes readers to the present-day outback in this moving story told in verse, which unfolds through the first-person narratives of 16-year-old Lucy Harding and 15-year-old Jake Jackson. Though they are neighbors, their lives could not be more different. Jake has a happy and loving family; Lucy's home life is dismal. Her father drinks and blames Lucy for his unhappiness. "I was bad luck./ I was the cause of the drought,/ the bushfire,/ the floods./ He was stuck here because of me." Rather than stand up to him, Lucy spends her days trying to avoid him. Anything she cares about he destroys ("I was so happy watching the bird/ .../ I didn't see Dad raise the gun/ and fire"). When Jake's father finds another sheep ripped to bits, the man is convinced the culprit is a wolf, and Lucy tells Jake she knows where it lives. Herrick smoothly portrays how Lucy's thoughts about the wild creature allow her to work through her feelings about her father. While on their trek, Jake is injured, and the two spend the night in a cave where Lucy tells him about her unhappy home life. In Jake's friendship Lucy finds her inner strength ("What Jake and I got./ That can't be touched;/ it can't be broken./ My father can bash me/ all he likes,/ but I know now,/ he can't touch me"). Herrick's fully realized characters convey their hopes in this touching, well-written story. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
《儿童读物杂志》(Horn Book)书评
(Middle School, High School) Australian poet Herrick sets his poignant coming-of-age verse novel in a remote outback valley (the ""ass-end of the earth""). Only two families live there: the dysfunctional, despised Hardings and the contrastingly contented Jacksons. Although the novel is told primarily in the spare first-person voices of teens Lucy Harding and Jake Jackson, this is Lucy's story. She bears the brunt of her abusive father's anger, using the wall of her long hair ""to hide my eyes from his hate. / To hide my hate from his eyes"" and coping by staying out of his way. When Lucy learns that Jake is on a quest -- to find the rogue wolf his father is deeply convinced exists, despite the fact that wolves don't live in Australia -- she plans to use Jake's bushwalk as an opportunity to run away. But then Jake sprains his ankle; rescuing him, she turns to face not only the wolf but also her father. Herrick makes overt (""Don't think I'm weak. / I'm not. / I'm snarling underneath / and they know it"") the connection between Lucy and the wolf -- one made by abuse and unmade by romantic friendship and her own strength of character. Though the happiness of the ending is low-key, it is definite, with Lucy and her mother determined to ""get on with it"" and Lucy and Jake sharing a kiss, her hair tied back from her face. Copryight 2007 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus评论
Lucy Harding lives on the appropriately named Battle Farm, located in an isolated and inhospitable area of Australia. That's an issue, but it's not the one that concerns Lucy most. The one that weighs most heavily in Lucy's heart is what to do about her abusive and alcoholic dad who keeps the women in the family in fear of violence. Her story alternates with that of her neighbor, 15-year-old Jake Jackson. Jake wonders about fate: Is he tied to the land as his parents are? And is his father always right? The two eventually decide to take a pilgrimage into the rocky forest in search of a wolf that they think they hear howling every night, even though wolves are not known to inhabit that terrain. Lucy thinks it's a feral dog that was once her pet, but escaped her father's wrath. Herrick is a skillful storyteller and a practiced hand at verse novels like this one. He skillfully intertwines the lives of the teenagers and resolves the story in a satisfying way. The exotic Australian countryside adds a layer of interest to a story that seems to be universal in the minds of young adults. (Fiction. 12-15) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
I'm not sure what hurts more / his ugly words, / his backhanders, / or watching Mum seeing it all / and doing nothing. Lucy, 16, is furious and afraid of her violent father. On the neighboring sheep farm in a remote part of the Australian outback, her classmate Jake is close with his dad, bonded through their work together. Is the howling animal they hear at night the wolf that Jake's dad swears he encountered in the bush? Or is it the dog that Lucy's abusive dad drove away? The terse, free verse in short, clear lines moves fast as Jake and Lucy take off together, Jake to find the wolf, Lucy to escape. When Jake falls, she cares for him in a cave, they make out in bliss, and she returns home transformed. Lucy's dad is portrayed as a two-dimensional monster, but that is true to her viewpoint. Telling the story through the teens' alternating narratives, the poetry is plain and beautiful, and the blend of family drama, romance, and perilous adventure will grab readers. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2007 Booklist