Overview / 简介: |
| When Kenny moves to Providence, Rhode Island, he is visited by a ghost and finds himself embroiled in the century-old murder of a teenage slave. "A ghost story of redeeming social value."—SLJ. Mature content |
From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
| Grade 5-7 A ghost story of redeeming social value: when 12-year-old Kenny Huldorf moves with his family to Providence, Rhode Island, he finds himself embroiled in the century-old murder of a teenage slave named Caleb. Not only is Kenny haunted by the injustice of the murder, but also by the ghost of Caleb himself, who summons Kenny back in time to the early 19th Century, where the boy must solve Caleb's murder to return to his own century. How Kenny does this is the stuff of a somber and ambiguous conclusion upon which Avi intrudes himself as a character as he has earlier done at the book's beginning. Why Avi has chosen to do this is debatableperhaps to reinforce the reality of the social issue, slavery, which drives the narrative. In any event, as a literary device it compromises an otherwise carefully constructed tale, just as the too obvious employment of Caleb as both character and symbol tends to compromise his viability as a character. Nevertheless Something Upstairs is an intelligent and well-intentioned effort. It can provoke discussion of the issues articulated above as well as how, finally, violence visits the lives of both Caleb and Kenny and how Kenny, through choice and circumstance, may have become a slave himself. Michael Cart, Beverly Hills Public Library
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Foreign Customer Review / 国外客户评价: |
| "Something Upstairs" is the only book I have ever read by the author, AVI. If this one is any indication, I should read more of him because I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The story centers around two main characters: Kenny Huldorf, a boy who has just moved into a new house in Providence, Rhode Island; and the ghost of a slave he meets in his room, Caleb. Caleb was murdered in the room that Kenny discovers him and, after several meetings to earn Caleb's trust, their search for who killed Caleb and why he was murdered begins.
This book has enough twists and turns in it for to be a real page-turner. I've read it several times, and I've enjoyed it very much each time. The author claims that all the events in the book are real; in the forward, he claims that he actually met the boy, Kenny Huldorf, and was able to research everything the boy told him. I guess the reader will have to determine for himself/herself whether the events that unfold within the book are actually true.
The suspense level is also very-well maintained in this book as well. There is a twist toward the end that sort of throws the whole book on its ear, and it is only then that Kenny realizes the amplifications of what is actually going on in his adventure with Caleb to find a murderer.
I would highly recommend this book to young readers who like books with a little bit of history, a whole lot of mystery and a healthy dose of twists and turns. "Something Upstairs" is a genuinely good book, worth reading over and over again.
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About the Author / 作者介绍: |
| Avi's work spans nearly every genre and has received nearly every major prize, including the Newbery Medal for CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD and Newbery Honors for NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH and THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE. Avi lives in Denver, Colorado. You can visit him online at www.avi-writer.com.
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