No Passengers Beyond This Point

December 6, 2010
Best known for her Newbery Honor–winning historical fiction, Choldenko (Al Capone Does My Shirts) forays into high-concept fantasy with mixed results. Having lost the family home to foreclosure, the widowed schoolteacher mother of three—India, Finn, and Mouse Tompkins—puts them on a plane to Denver to live with an uncle while she finishes out the academic year in California. After some turbulence, the plane lands, but what follows is a hallucinatory journey, which unfolds in alternating first-person chapters narrated by each sibling. The trio is given a rock star welcome by the residents of a city called Falling Bird, chauffeured in a pink, feathered taxi by a 12-year-old, and offered dream homes and—except for six-year-old Mouse—jobs. They sense something's amiss, and after some soul-searching, especially by angry teen India, the children realize all they want is to reach their uncle's place. The revelation of what really happened doesn't quite square with a narrative told in three voices, but Choldenko's pacing is sure and her use of airport argot (white courtesy phones, a missing black box) adds an inventive element to this story of unlikely survival. Ages 10–up.

December 15, 2010

An odd juxtaposition of contemporary reality and surreal fantasy from Newbery Honoree Choldenko. Surly India, worrywart Finn and smartypants Mouse are shipped off to Colorado to live with their uncle after their family home is lost to foreclosure. But too soon after take-off, their plane lands in a strange town named Falling Bird, where they are greeted like long-lost heroes and whisked off to three separate homes, each fully loaded with their heart's desires. Each child is given a clock that is counting down and told that when the time is up, a decision must be made to leave or stay. But leave or stay where? Colorado? Oz? Or somewhere else entirely? As always, the author shines in her characterization of children and their idiosyncratic kidspeak. Each sibling takes a turn in the narration, giving readers front-row seats to their psyches. But the convoluted mystery of Falling Bird isn't revealed until the very last pages, and by then some young readers may have lost interest in trying to interpret a Kafka-esque world with too few clues and a confusing host of secondary characters. Fascinating, if not entirely successful. (Fantasy. 10-14)

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February 1, 2011

Gr 5-7-When their mom loses their house to foreclosure, India, Finn, and Mouse must move in with a relative in Colorado. The journey turns peculiar when the kids' flight lands in a strange location where cell phones don't work and they are cut off from the normal world. In a feather-covered cab with a child driver, they enter Falling Bird, a Coraline-like alternate reality where things seem better than the place they left behind, but where something indefinably sinister lurks beneath the surface. And the citizens seem determined to keep the siblings there, with false promises of an easy existence and the lure of a "dream house." But when their dream houses literally break apart, the kids are thrust again into a homeless existence that mirrors their real-world limbo. The story is fast-moving and entertaining, but it's hard to figure out the significance of the many devices: there's a white cat, a black box, some puzzle pieces, clocks that count backwards, and a magic phone that knows their intentions. It's all a bit confusing, but, if readers don't sweat the details, it's a fun ride, full of adventure, suspense, and good characterization. Brainy little Mouse is aptly described as "like Einstein on a sugar high," and self-centered, desperate-for-approval India taps into her inner power by the end of the tale and comes through for her siblings. An additional purchase, for readers who like clues and adventure, and aren't daunted by a puzzling ending.-Emma Burkhart, Springside School, Philadelphia, PA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 Three siblings board a plane after their mother loses the family house and sends them to live with their uncle in Colorado. But instead of Colorado, they land . . . somewhere. Theyre dropped off at their individually tailored dream houses but only have one day to live there before they each get a ticking clock counting down to zero. Trying to circumvent the baffling bureaucracy of this lightly Kafkaesque dreamland, they attempt to figure out how to return home but get tripped up by a weird set of rules about finding a dog and a black box and putting three puzzle pieces together. Choldenko drops a few hints along the way but only fully reveals whats happening behind this fever dream in a blistering resolution that doesnt quite answer the dozens of questions readers may have stored up. Still, the ultimate pointthat family ties, prickly though they may be, are the surest thing to hold on to when the world goes bonkersis delivered with an unusually thoughtful dose of weirdness and honest sentiment. A fast-paced mind-bender.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)