From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-The Starbucks are back in a new adventure. Communicating through telepathic channels, the two sets of twins journey to the Southwest with their father on an EPA mission to divert water to a Native American tribe. A group of radical environmentalists is using any means necessary to divert the Starbucks from the project. Their mother's twin sister plans for them to stay at her local health spa, and it becomes apparent to the astute children that her evil partner is involved with a ring of artifacts' thieves, who are actually the environmentalists in thin disguise. The shards that she covets are the remains of a 600-year-old piece of pottery made by a young Anasazi girl whose spirit cannot be set free until her last pot is whole once again. The older Starbuck twins, Liberty and July, accompanied by their younger sisters, Charly and Molly, and their babysitter stumble upon the mystery in an ancient kiva with the help of a psychic hamster. Sound far-fetched? Well it is, but young readers will soon be drawn into the mystery and the well-researched history of the area. Lasky skillfully weaves together Native American lore and the beauty of the Southwest.
Julie Halverstadt, Douglas Public Library District, Castle Rock, Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
From a much-honored pro, a disappointingly graceless tale, third in the Starbuck Family Adventures. The gang's off to the Southwest, where their father's to help in a river diversion project and twins Liberty and July stumble onto a 600-year-old murder and help put the spirit of a Native-American potter to rest. Wickedly radical environmentalists turn out to be greedy grave robbers, but the real crimes here are in the narrative: scattershot points-of-view; mixed tenses; choppy Native American dialogue; threads of plotting that go nowhere. Some sentences simply don't make sense--''Liberty's telepathic voice seemed to twinkle around the shape.'' As usual, Liberty and July, and their younger twin sisters Charly and Molly, communicate telepathically. They also ``telesqueal,'' ``telescream,'' telemutter,'' and ``telewhimper.'' Even the Bobbsey twins had more substance. (Fiction. 8-12) --
Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
