A Gift of Dragons

July 15, 2002
Here is proof that when there's a film deal in the works, publishers will snap up the book and promote it as a literary event. Carcaterra, who landed on the big screen with his New York Times
bestseller Sleepers, builds his flimsy tale around a Neapolitan legend describing a 1943 skirmish between armored German occupation forces and local street urchins. In doing so, he draws inspiration from a host of sources ranging from The Secret of Santa Vittoria
to Saving Private Ryan. Steve Connors, an American commando cut off from his unit, joins forces with a group of Neapolitan slum children orphaned by the war. The one-dimensional characters and their names could have been taken from a war comic: there is the dutiful Nazi named Von Klaus, who knows that Germany will lose the war, but is determined to follow his orders no matter what; Nunzia, the love interest; even a faithful mastiff who stays by Connors's side throughout. The amateurish writing—especially the dialogue ("The Nazis have destroyed Naples, but they have not destroyed us")—seems formatted for quick and easy screen adaptation, weaving cookie-cutter moments together in picturesquely ravaged locales. The reader can almost hear the director shouting, "Cue Panzers!" Cliché-addled, unconvincing and loaded with ridiculous throwaway lines, this novel will need all the help it can get from the film version. (Sept.)Forecast:The book's shortcomings will be more than made up for in marketing: for starters, a six-city author tour, national advertising in major newspapers, national radio advertising and a teaser chapter in the paperback of
Gangster. Best of all, perhaps: Barry Levinson is to direct the Warner Bros. film version.

October 28, 2002
Bestseller Anne McCaffrey (The Skies of Pern) collects four tales of Pern in A Gift of Dragons, including a new adventure written especially for this volume, "Ever the Twain." Tom Kidd's illustrations of cuddly dragons and their human companions add extra value.

May 1, 2002
In World War II Naples, homeless children take on the advancing Germans single-handedly, with just a few primitive weapons and the help of a stranded American G.I. Soon to be a major motion picture.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2002
McCaffrey's legions of fans will warmly welcome this delightful, handsomely illustrated collection of four stories set on the planet Pern. "The Smallest Dragonboy," a heartwarming tale first published in 1973 in " Science Fiction Tales," leads off. It centers on young Keevan, who is desperate to impress a dragon during his first time in the Hatching Ground because then no one in the Weyr will taunt him again for being small. In "The Girl Who Heard Dragons," the only Pern story in a 1994 collection to which it gave its title, Keeven, now K'van, and his dragon, Heth, answer Aramina's call for help in eluding the holdless Thella and her band of renegades, who want to use Aramina's ability to communicate telepathically with dragons. The story is a follow-up to " The Renegades of Pern" (1989). "Runner of Pern," which debuted in the short-novel anthology " Legends" (1998), discloses another facet of life on Pern in the romantic story of Tenna, one of the express runners who crisscross the land carrying messages from one settlement to another. With "Ever the Twain," first published here, McCaffrey returns to the Hatching Ground to follow the adventures of the twins Nevu and Nian on their way to impressing dragons.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2002
A dragon-hatching at Ista Weyr provides twin brother and sister Neru and Nian with their first crisis of love and duty in "Ever the Twain," original to this illustrated collection of four Pern stories by McCaffrey. Also included are "The Smallest Dragonboy," about a young boy's fervent desire to bond with a baby dragon; the author's classic "The Girl Who Heard Dragons," the story of a girl with an unusual talent; and "Runner of Pern," a tale involving one of Pern's most important and least glamorous occupations. Tom Kidd's moody, atmospheric illustrations give a visual focus to these tales and help create a work of the imagination that belongs in most libraries.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.