Kasper in the Glitter

After his mother's brooch is stolen, Kasper leaves his home in the land of Nowhere and journeys to the land of Glitter and Gloom to get it back, confronting great dangers in a city ruled by a fierce orphan boy.

Grade 4-6. For the first 10 years of his life, Kasper Whisky has been content, living with his mother, Pumpkin, in the ruins of her Sparkle Plenty beauty salon. He cooks, dusts, scrubs, and helps her in her endless quest to sparkle. Pumpkin goes out to do their shopping, but Kasper has never left home. One night he sees a boy named Heartthrob stealing the yellow roses that surround the salon and tries to make friends. But Heartthrob disappears, and so does Pumpkin's favorite golden brooch, so Kasper must leave the salon for the first time, venturing through the Nothing, the surrounding wasteland; across the Scream, the highway encircling the City; and into the Gloom and the Glitter of the City itself to try to find them. Once there, Kasper tangles with King Streetwise, a teenage punk who lures lost children into his tumbledown palace and then demands their allegiance. Streetwise is almost the downfall of Kasper and Pumpkin, but when her parental instincts finally surface from under her mascara and hair spray, she helps save the day for the lost children. This odd fantasy combines elements of realism with sheer, comic-strip escapism and an outlandish plot. Droll, black-and-white sketches throughout help to visualize the unusual beings and settings. Perceptive readers may see the poignancy in the lives of the homeless children; others will suspend disbelief as needed to enjoy the action and adventure.?Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Enticing young people to leave the brightly lit Glitter and join him in the decrepit part of town known as The Gloom, a parent-hating, teenage bully sets himself up as King Streetwise in this plodding British farce from Ridley (Krindlekrax, 1992, etc.). Kasper Whiskey, having spent all of his ten years with his indolent mother, Pumpkin, in her beauty parlor surrounded by leveled buildings, has never met anyone his age until the day he catches Heartthrob Mink, one of King Streetwise's troops, stealing roses. When Pumpkin's prized brooch disappears, Kasper sets out in pursuit. Streetwise is looking for Heartthrob, too, for helping his intended queen, Hushabye Brightwing, escape; Kasper joins the hunt but is so offended by the king's tactics that he switches sides and brings the two fugitives to the beauty parlor. Ultimately, Pumpkin turns over a new leaf, Heartthrob deals the king a black eye, the brooch turns up, and Hushabye declares her love for Kasper. Cautionary messages about bad friends and the dangers of running away are woven into a story that, for all its quirky elements and exaggerated characters, never hits the funny bone; few readers will notice that the king sounds like Elvis, nor will they attach much hilarity to repeated glimpses of Kasper's skill at whipping up a kind of banana cream pie. Riddell's black-and-white drawings have an expressive, graphic-novel-style sophistication, but can't leaven this leaden effort. (Fiction. 11-13) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.