Kimako's story

Just some first-person chat from Kimako, who is seven going on eight, likes to sit on the stoop with her mother, but hates having to stay inside while her mother works. Sometimes Kimako works on ""poem puzzles,"" a few of which are included here. But what she really enjoyed, she relates, was taking care of a friend's dog for a week. This allowed her to go around the neighborhood safe from drunks and bullies, and to see things like a boy with a 15-foot-long cardboard sleeve on his arm or a watermelon shared by ten men who hang out in the park. Kimako tells us all this in a conversational manner, and ends by confiding her plan to ask for a dog for her birthday. ""And if she says okay, then I'll be back outside again!"" Without sounding any emotional depths, but remembering how the most ordinary and grubby occurrences can be interesting curiosities to a kid, Jordan gives us a glimpse of Kimako's world and its restrictions, how she feels about it, and how any kid feels about being cooped up. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.