Review by New York Times Review
AFTER the 2004 presidential election, an amusing graphic made its way around the Internet It took the red state/blue state divide to the extreme, showing two new nations on the North American continent. Canada and most of the coastal states became the United States of Canada The heartland became Jesusland. Neal Shusterman's novel "Unwind" explores the aftermath of just such a division. In an undated future, far enough away for iPods to be sold at antique stores, the Heartland War has devastated the United States. To negotiate a peace between the Life Army and the Choice Brigade, the federal government has outlawed abortion but instituted the practice of "unwinding," or retroactive pregnancy termination. Before the age of 18, any teenager, at the discretion of a parent or guardian, can be killed and disassembled, with his or her organs going to the sick and injured. It might seem that killing a child would be as reprehensible to anti-abortion activists as abortion itself - but Shusterman draws a clever parallel to the fact that many of them support the death penalty. He's hard on the other side, too, comparing doctors' acceptance of "unwound" organs to harvesting stem cells for profit. Midway through the book, the Admiral, a haggard figure who shelters runaways marked for unwinding, explains: "On one side, people were murdering abortion doctors to protect the right to life, while on the other side people were getting pregnant just to sell their fetal tissue." Connor, a hotheaded teen whose parents are fed up with his delinquent behavior, is one of the condemned. While in transit to a "harvest camp" (a happy death camp, complete with live music), he escapes, outwits the "juvey cops" and runs into Risa and Lev. Risa has been consigned to unwinding because, at an orphanage, her piano skills were judged inadequate. Lev is the book's most fascinating character - a "tithe," the 10th child of a rich, religious family who is voluntarily offering himself for unwinding to support humanity through God's will. As Connor, Risa and Lev go on the lam, Shusterman's plot twists and prose hit the mark about half the time. For every sharp observation ("the first sign of civilization is always trash"), there is a passage where a character explains his or her emotional state to an impatient reader. What keeps "Unwind" moving are the creative and shocking details of Shusterman's kid-mining dystopia First, there are the Orwellian linguistic tricks. People who have been unwound are not "dead" - they are "in a divided state." Then there are the rules and rituals. Before being unwound, Lev is honored with a lavish "tithing party," which bears a strong resemblance to a bar mitzvah. The most terrifying scene is devoted to the unwinding itself. The author's decision to describe the process is a questionable one - a book's great unknown can leave the strongest impression on a reader - but he executes as precisely as the surgeons who perform the unwinding. Ultimately, though, the power of the novel lies in what it doesn't do: come down explicitly on one side or the other. After all, there are benefits to unwinding - children with fatal diseases can be saved by perfect transplants. And if the people of Jesusland can come to understand their countrymen in the United States of Canada - or vice versa - aren't we all better off? Ned Vizzini is the author of the young adult novels "It's Kind of a Funny Story" and "Be More Chill."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
Like preschoolers at play on the floor, this big, wild, noisy, rambunctious picture book is packed with action as two friends, Jack Truck and Dump Truck Dan, hit the road. They charge at Cement Mixer Melvin, play pirates with Gabriella Garbage Truck, and smack, whack, and stack. Unlike many truck books for the very young child, this one has a simple story: a big, scary voice in the background turns out to be Wrecking Crane Rosie, who takes the two friends along to help her smash a building. The truck friends love it, and so will kids. Some of the neon-colored computer graphics seem too packed and busy at times, but the trucks' expressive faces, with headlights as eyes, are lots of fun, as are the endpapers, which picture individual vehicles relating tough comments, such as Out of my way. As the first in Jon Scieszka's Trucktown series of high-energy books for preschoolers, this bodes well for the numerous titles to follow.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Little gearheads will rally to this demolition derby, carried out by a gregarious all-motorized cast. Jack Truck, a red flatbed with chrome exhaust stacks, and best friend Dump Truck Dan, a blue guy with a yellow cab and mud flaps, adore the smash and crash of work in progress. To stir up noisy trouble, "Jack and Dan charge Cement Mixer Melvin," who mixes sand and water for his job. "No. I can't get messy," Melvin tells them, but with a "smash-crash!" mischievous Jack and Dan leave him covered in gray glop. The friends help Monster Truck Max stack orange-and-white oil drums, and they assist baby-pink Gabriella Garbage Truck (who has a teddy bear tied to her front bumper) in building a pirate fort from an old boat. Scieszka (Math Curse) revs readers up with gear-grinding noise and rowdy antics that echo Pixar's animated Cars. Celebrated illustrators Shannon, Long and Gordon embed mechanical shapes in their punchy display type, and they contribute panoramic vistas of Jack and Dan's playgrounds: freshly dug foundations, vast junkyards and dusty lots with buildings slated for destruction. In a nod to Scieszka's "Guys Read" initiative, most of the machines are male, but the burliest of all is Wrecking Crane Rosie, so tall she requires a vertical gatefold. Heads and taillights above legions of other truck titles, this smash-crash series opener is bound to be a hit. Ages 3-7. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Scieszka teamed up with Shannon, Long, and Gordon to create a vibrant locale inhabited by personified vehicles. In this rollicking escapade, best pals Jack Truck and Dump Truck Dan are in the mood for smashing and crashing. They search for other friends to join in, including Cement Mixer Melvin, Monster Truck Max, and Grater Kat, but they are all too busy working. Although they interrupt their friends' tasks, Jack and Dan's smashing and crashing ultimately helps each truck get the job done. Throughout the story, the comrades continually flee from a menacing shadow. It turns out to be Wrecking Crane Rosie, who demands that they follow her; Jack and Dan are surprised to discover she needs their help to smash and crash a building. Told in brief catchy language, the story zooms along with plenty of pizzazz and action. Children will want to jump in and repeat the "Smash! Crash!" refrain. The winning full-color digital artwork adds plenty of personality to the characters and perfectly suits the text. A foldout page illustrates Rosie's imposing height, and endpapers introduce the cast. Entertaining as a group read-aloud or one-on-one selection, this book is sure to be a hit with truck lovers. Be on the lookout for more "Trucktown" adventures.-Lynn K. Vanca, Akron-Summit County Public Library, Richfield, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Truck buddies Jack and Dan live to wreck havoc. They're not villains, though: their energy is channeled into helping friends build a play pirate fort and demolishing an old building. It can be hard to tell what's going on in the discombobulatingly frantic illustrations, but kids who like this sort of thing will enjoy all the smashing and crashing. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The irrepressible Scieszka has set his sites on entertaining a younger crowd and getting them (boys especially) hooked on the joys of reading. Best friends Jack Truck and Dump Truck Dan love to spend their days smashing and crashing. First they demolish a construction site; then they have a little too much messy fun with their friend Cement Mixer Melvin. On the construction side, they help Monster Truck Max stack barrels and build an amazing pirate fort for Gabriella Garbage Truck and Grader Kat. But all day they have been dogged by a mysterious shadow--are they in trouble for all their mischievous destruction? No. It's just Wrecking Crane Rosie offering a positive outlet for their destructive tendencies. Jack's and Dan's energy and zest are perfectly captured by the trio of illustrators who collaborated to create the characters for the entire series. With their anthropomorphized vehicles, lots of dust clouds and junkyard parts, and a font that incorporates truck parts into individual letters, they are sure to please. The combination of high-energy artwork and exuberant characters are sure to make the Trucktown series a necessary purchase for every garage library. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
