Secret Heart

Publishers Weekly

With a reading as nimble and sure as cat feet, British actor Malcolm seems at home in the strange, exotic world of Almond's latest fantasy. Young Joe Maloney has never felt comfortable in his own skin. He sees creatures and hears voices that most people do not. Tougher still, kids ridicule Joe for his stammer and his odd, introspective ways. But when a tattered, run-down circus comes to Joe's village, he meets a crew of people who truly understand him. Corinne, a trapeze artist Joe's age, just may be his soulmate. And before the circus packs up its tent to leave, Joe finally finds a way to connect to the life force (embodied as a tiger) that he feels in his "secret heart." Fans of Almond's books Kit's Wilderness and Skellig will be the most willing to follow Malcolm's quick yet steady voice through this offbeat and symbol-rich story; others may find the tale's action a bit slow going. Throughout, Malcolm's soft-spoken portrayal of Joe is an excellent fit. Simultaneous release with the Delacorte hardcover. Ages 10-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-Stuttering and often at a loss for words, Joe Maloney was born otherworldly, and his mother is his only advocate in his small English village. Peers pay him little heed other than to castigate him; teachers disparage his very presence. Even his mother says, "You're such a funny'n- Something different in your blood or something." Joe is confronted with myriad problems that include a friendship with Stanny Mole, who admonishes him to become a man, to go out and kill with him and Joff, a snake-tattooed miscreant-of-a-man. Dreaming his youth away, Joe skips school, heading for the forest at the call of a roaming tiger. He is befriended by Corinne, a Gypsy girl and young trapeze artist from a newly arrived, worn-out circus. She introduces him to capricious carnival types who gently encourage him to find his own way, to discover the heart of the tiger that lies dormant within him. The fine line between reality and fantasy is always neatly navigated yet left deliciously ethereal. Readers are forever left to wonder where one leaves off and the other begins. In some ways, the chimerical flavor of Almond's previous books is compromised here by a bit more heavy-handedness. Though not as mysterious as his other titles, this book has thought-provoking allegory that will engage older readers in more and more layers of meaning.-Daniel L. Darigan, West Chester University, PA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

From a master of the symbolism of darkness as it stands in opposition to light and hope: the opaque story of an unusual boy named Joe and a cast of eccentric and unsavory characters. Joe, who feels " . . . the lark singing inside him and the tiger prowling inside him," is a complex, enigmatic character. While he is sensitive and intelligent inside, he is outwardly troubled, awkward, stammering, and dreamily vague. Townsfolk, including his peers, psychiatrists, social workers, teachers, and policemen consistently misunderstand and sometimes victimize him. When a down-at-the-heels circus arrives in town for its last performances before folding, this lonely outsider is drawn to the circus folk and they to him. They are looking for a hero who has the heart of a tiger to carry the skin of the circus's last tiger into the forest. A blind diviner uses her odd rituals to foretell that Joe will be that hero. So does young Corinna, a circus flyer who speaks in esoterica and believes Joe to be her twin from another life. The two carry the tiger skin into the night forest and succeed in driving away a swaggering thug who specializes in toughening up boys with his own ritual of cruel blood sport. The story ends with a metaphorical reconciliation as Joe's constant, devoted mother invites the shunned circus folk to a party in her garden, where they delight neighborhood children. The reader senses that Joe's secret heart may have found a "home." Beautifully written, this nonetheless is a largely metaphysical tale of stalker versus prey (real and surreal, animal and human), featuring mainly symbolic characters with whom readers may not connect and about whom they may not care. (Fiction. 12-15)