| "THE NEW POLICEMAN"
Author: Kate Thompson
Interest Level: Middle Grades (4-8)
ATOS Reading Level: 5.1
AR Points: 8.0
Publisher Recommended Age: 12+
Publisher: HarperCollins/HarperTeen
Book Type: Paperback
Pages: 464
Book Description:
Who knows where the time goes? There never seems to be enough time in Kinvara, or anywhere else in Ireland for that matter. When J.J.'s mother says that what she really wants for her birthday is more time in her day, J.J. decides to find her some.
But how can he find time for her, when he barely has enough time to keep up with school and his music? And where will he get time to find out if the shocking rumor is true—that his great-grandfather was a murderer?
It seems as though J.J.'s given himself an impossible task. But then a neighbor reveals a secret to him—there is a place where time stands still.
J.J. realizes he's the only person who can make the journey, but to do so he'll have to vanish from his own life. And when J.J. disappears from the village, enter the new policeman.
Book Reviews:
School Library Journal: "Slowly unveiled family mysteries and questions about the identity of the new policeman in town will keep (readers) enthralled." Grades 7-10.
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review): "Thompson's nify plotting mines a rich vein of Irish faerie lore and magic."
VOYA (Starred Review): "Mesmerizing and captivating."
Book Awards:
- UK: Whitbread Children's Book Award 2005 (now called the Costa Book Award)
- USA: ALA, Notable Children's Book
- USA: ALA, Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
- USA: Publishers Weekly, Best Book
- USA: Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award
- UK: Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
- Ireland: Dublin Airport Authority, Children's Book of the Year Award for 2005
About the Author:
Kate Thompson is an award-winning writer for children and adults. Born in Halifax, Yorkshire in 1956, she has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. She is the youngest child of the social historians and peace activists E. P. Thompson and Dorothy Towers. She worked with horses and travelled in India before settling in the west of Ireland with her partner Conor. They have two daughters, Cliodhna and Dearbhla. She is an accomplished fiddler with an interest in Irish traditional music, reflected in The New Policeman.
While Kate Thompson's children's fiction is primarily fantasy, several of her books also deal with the consequences of genetic engineering.
She has won the Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award four times, for The Beguilers, The Alchemist's Apprentice, Annan Water and The New Policeman. The New Policeman was also awarded the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Dublin Airport Authority Children's Book of the Year Award for 2005.
You can find out more about Kate Thompson at her website, www.katethompson.info. |
