The New York Times Book Review - Jervey Tervalon
Rarely have I read a children's book so suspenseful that it's made me worry about being stranded in the weeds with the bleak, hateful aspects of human nature. But Christopher Paul Curtis's The Madman of Piney Woods did just that. Again and again, I doubted that what would happen next would be O.K. for young and old readers alike. Yet at every turn of this middle-grade novel…Curtis deftly makes what might have been simply heart-rending hopeful and redeeming instead.
Publishers Weekly
07/07/2014
In 1901, Benji Alston lives in Buxton, Ont., a real-life town settled by abolitionists and runaway slaves (and the setting of Curtis’s Newbery Honor–winning Elijah of Buxton). Alvin “Red” Stockard, son of an Irish immigrant and a local judge, resides in nearby Chatham. The woods of the title connect the two towns, and both boys have grown up hearing cautionary tall tales about a wild boogeyman who lives there. Writing in his customary episodic style, Curtis relates their separate stories in alternating chapters, incorporating a large cast, his trademark humor and gritty hijinks, and the historical events that shaped the people and the area: slavery, the U.S. Civil War, and Irish immigration. It takes more than half the book for the boys—both 13—and their stories to connect, which may try the patience of some readers. Those who persist, though, will be rewarded with an update on what became of Elijah, the hero of the first book, as Curtis delivers an ending that ties together the two stories, set 40 years apart, in a poignant and powerful way. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"Curtis deftly makes what might have been simply heart-rending hopeful and redeeming instead... a pleasure to read." — New York Times Book Review* "A delight, featuring the author's obvious love for his characters, his skillful use of sentiment, and his often hyperbolic humor... quintessential Curtis." — Booklist, starred review* "A journey of revelation and insight... profoundly moving yet also at times very funny." — Horn Book Magazine, starred review* "Beautiful storytelling as only Curtis can do it." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review* "Curtis masterfully interweaves goofy family vignettes, memorable characters, and thought-provoking themes into a page-turner with appeal to multiple audiences and tastes." — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review"Poignant and powerful." — Publishers Weekly
OCTOBER 2014 - AudioFile
Curtis returns to early-twentieth-century Canada in this companion novel to ELIJAH OF BUXTON. In alternating chapters, JD Jackson voices Benji, an aspiring reporter and lover of the woods, and Kirby Heyborne voices Red, an Irish boy who lives in neighboring Chatham. Both narrators deliver the boys’ self-assuredness with relish, as well as their fear of encountering the “Madman of Piney Woods,” but they shine most in the voices of the adult characters. Jackson terrifies listeners by detachedly recounting the horrors of the Civil War as the Madman. Heyborne delivers a pitch-perfect Irish accent in the voice of Grandmother O’Toole.The care in both portrayals brings depth to Curtis’s theme of the varying ways hardships can shape or damage human beings. E.M.C. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2014-06-10
Forty years after Elijah Freeman’s exploits in Elijah of Buxton (2007), 13-year-olds Benji Alston and Red Stockard become friends as Curtis revisits Buxton, Ontario, in a fine companion novel.Benji and Red don’t meet for 200 pages, their separate lives in 1901 related in alternating first-person narratives. Benji, an African-Canadian boy in Buxton, and Red, a white boy of Irish descent living in nearby Chatham, have fairly ordinary and free lives. Benji dreams of becoming the best newspaperman in North America; Red mostly wants to survive his crazy Grandmother O’Toole. Echoes of history underlie the tale: Benji lives in a community settled by former slaves; Red is the grandson of a woman haunted by the Irish Potato Famine and the horrors of coffin ships on the St. Lawrence River. Both boys know the legend of a mysterious creature in the woods, called the Madman of Piney Woods by Benji, the South Woods Lion Man by Red. And, indeed, this “madman” and his woods ultimately tie the whole story together in a poignant and life-affirming manner. Humor and tragedy are often intertwined, and readers will find themselves sobbing and chuckling, sometimes in the same scene. Though this story stands alone, it will be even more satisfying for those who have read Elijah of Buxton.Beautiful storytelling as only Curtis can do it. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 9-13)
