Amazon Reviewer: Kathy W: This book is excellent! With a blend of current events, humor and the seriousness of a possible terrorist attack on Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, this story captures the adventures of an inner-city African American youth (about age 12 or so). Jamil Jamil is quite an ordinary young man, but one with a special gift. He can talk to animals, by a mental process he calls "mind memorandums"! And, they talk to him too!                                                                   

Amazon Reviewer Fritz R. Ward: Ron Costello aimed for something a little different in this book, and the result is a combination of gritty realism and fantasy. The lead character, Jamil Jamil is overweight, subject to bullying, and lives sometimes with his drug addicted mother and her string of abusive boyfriends. (Sometimes he sleeps on the streets.) His "saving grace" is a Catholic School where, unlike the local public schools, children are not in charge. Naturally, he does not like it that much, though through the course of this novel he comes to see why this school offers him a way out of the dead end life of south Philadelphia. In all this is an engaging book written in an authentic voice. The author clearly knows Philadelphia and the book is full of cultural references to the city.                                                             
Amazon Reviewer Brian E. Erland: Introduction: Imagine yourself browsing through the `young readers' section of your local bookstore looking for something a little different for a discerning, well read adolescent. A rather odd title catches your eye, `The Junto... Racing To The Bell' by Ron Costello. Lifting the book from the shelf you begin to read the synopsis on the back cover before glancing at the table of contents, soon to be followed by a casual reading of a paragraph or two. Most certainly you've come upon a unique and highly unorthodox storyline.Now you have the basics of the book; poverty, domestic and societal violence, international terrorism and a gifted young boy who with the aid of his animal helpers has an immensely important role to play in preventing a terrorist attack on American soil. Who would have ever expected a plot quite like this one?Author Ron Costello has bravely taken on some of the most pertinent concerns of our time, interweaving them with a wonderfully conceived and realized fantasy element that will enthrall readers of all ages. His writing style is insightful, profound and fluid, speaking to the young readers in a language they can relate to and enjoy while at the same time engaging the adult reader with levels of wit and wisdom that may (or may not) be accessible to adolescents.To be honest I didn't think I was going to like this book, I guess I simply lacked the vision of how such uniquely different themes could come together. Boy was I wrong. This imaginative thought provoking book is an amazing read that impresses on every level. `The Junto' receives my highest recommendation!                                                                           

Amazon Reviewer Grady Harp: Ron Costello comes on to the scene of literature at a difficult time, a time when most books from new authors struggle for publication by the faltering publishing houses and find the light of day with print on demand or with smaller, courageous publishers. THE JUNTO, RACING TO THE BELL is a very readable, absorbing, entertaining and socially significant story that comes to us at a propitious time, a time when our focus is once again on Terrorism and the seeming neglect of signs and warnings of tragedies such as just happened at Fort Hood. Costello has created a story that addresses a new thought-provoking tale about the mysterious occult possibilities for discovering such incidents but instead of stopping with a clever idea (a receptive little boy named Jamil Jamil who is from Philadelphia's poverty pockets, a child cramped by familial crumbling, but blessed with a wise grandmother and with the ability to communicate with animals), he wisely takes the opportunity of using a richly detailed and credible fantasy tale and presents significant views about social conditions, about education, and about the ability for children deprived of the usual comforts of education and living situations to rise above their lot and become heroes.