Hoggle's Christmas - Hardcover

Shelton, Rick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525651292 ISBN 13: 9780525651291

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 1993

Synopsis

A young sister and brother make an unusual friend who leaves and remembers them with a Christmas surprise

About this title

Reviews

Shelton's first children's book has some not-quite-magical adventures and a mildly satisfying conclusion; its best feature is an appealing narrative style. Richard (10) and Isabel (6) are befriended by new neighbor Mr. Hoggle, a high-school science teacher with eyes ``dark gold like the color of hickory leaves in the fall'' and skin ``the color of...pecans.'' Together, they have three adventures; then, without adequate explanation, Hoggle moves away. At the start, the children are mourning his departure; there's a flashback to the adventures, then a return to the present. What's missing in this jumpy sequence is any development of Hoggle's character or African-American identity- -other than his gift of African drums and masks (with which the kids later summon up a Christmas snowstorm). ``Being friends with Hoggle had been like having a bowl of ice cream that never ran out''; maybe, but he vanishes before we get to know him. Gates's appealingly realistic soft-pencil art (also a debut) depicts the children and their other friends as white. Ostensibly taking place in Tuscaloosa, a book that's especially undermined by its generic treatment of characters and setting. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525651292
• ISBN 13: 9780525651291
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80