Lord Kirkle's Money (Beyond the Western Sea, Book 2) - Softcover

Avi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380728761 ISBN 13: 9780380728763

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

Synopsis

Maura and Patrick have escaped the desperate poverty and danger of leaving home in Ireland to face even greater peril as they continue their daring voyage to the New World with their friend Laurence Kirkle. Aboard ship, they are crowded into the stench-filled pit of steerage, where they come face to face with illness and death, trying their best comfort and protect eight-year-old Bridy, who has lost both her parents. They find themselves at the mercy of fellow passengers--shady characters like Mr. Shagwell, an American in dire need of cash, and the conniving Mr. Clemspool, who sails first-class with young Mr. Grout, haunted by his criminal past. Ahead lies their future in America, fraught with danger and more crisis than they ever anticipated.

About this title

About the Author:

Avi is the award-winning author of more than eighty-two books for young readers, ranging from animal fantasy to gripping historical fiction, picture books to young adult novels. Crispin: The Cross of Lead won the Newbery Medal, and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Nothing But the Truth were awarded Newbery Honors. He is also the author of the popular Poppy series. Avi lives in Denver, Colorado. Visit him online at www.avi-writer.com.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 6-9?This sequel to Beyond the Western Sea: Book One (Orchard, 1996) continues the adventures of Patrick and Maura O'Connell and their friends Mr. Horatio Drabble and Laurence Kirkle as they sail to America. This book begins with the four on-board ship, with Laurence a stowaway and Maura, Patrick, and Mr. Drabble traveling in steerage. True to its Dickensian flavor, the villains are also on board. On arrival in Boston, all end up in the mill city of Lowell, MA. Patrick and Maura's father has died and the children find themselves facing anti-Irish sentiment, a greedy mill owner, poverty, inhuman working conditions, and, of course, all the villains. The action jumps back and forth from one person to another as their paths cross and recross. All characters "coincidentally" come together at the climax and the villains are vanquished. This is a well-written, but overly ambitious work that suffers from an overabundance of characters. The lack of a major hero and a primary villain fragments the work. Character development is minimal and the many different plots stop and start so often that the focus is lost. Avi's ability to use words and dialogue to develop a strong sense of time and place is evident and his theme that all people are created equal and that evil cannot be blamed on anything but evil individuals is strongly and clearly presented. For that reader who enjoys a well-written historical novel and who will not be deterred by the two-volume length or the complexity of the plots, this will satisfy if not excite.?Wendy D. Caldiero, New York Public Library
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0380728761
• ISBN 13: 9780380728763
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432