City of Names - Hardcover

Kevin Brockmeier is the author of two forthcoming books for adults. The recipient of such honors as a James Michener Fellowship, the Chicago Tribune/Nelson Algren Award, and the O'Henry Prize 2000, his stories have appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The Georgia Review, Carolina Quarterly, and more. City of Names is his first book for young readers.

Grade 3-6 Fifth-grader Howie is in for a surprise when he opens his classroom book order. Instead of 101 Pickle Jokes, he gets a mysterious book, Secret Guide to North Mellwood, which is actually a foldout map of his hometown showing all the buildings labeled with strange names. A note explains that the guide can be used as a transportation device. It is possible to travel directly to any place on the map merely by reciting its "true name." While the premise has potential, the author doesn't carry it off successfully. Story elements are introduced but not resolved and plot threads are left dangling everywhere. The "true names" on the map are intriguing, but the unusual words don't always relate to the locations they represent. The final third of the story is positively surreal. Howie and his two best friends make brief visits to a series of weird spots beneath the city including a Kafkaesque place full of hungry monkeys and an eerie, fog-filled holding room for ghostly lost pets. They encounter the strange, unsettling inventor of the map system in his underground hideaway. Finally, Howie meets and talks to his own unborn sister in an odd, womblike room where naked babies sit around in soft chairs with their umbilical cords stretching up to disappear through the walls. Steer science-fiction fans to Gene DeWeese and Bruce Coville instead. -Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.