Unnerving and uncanny—just as it should be.
A retelling breathes new life into E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Christmas classic.
Every Christmas Eve, mysterious Godfather Drosselmeier brings Marie Stahlbaum and her brother, Fritz, handmade gifts. Marie quickly discovers a human-shaped nutcracker under the Christmas tree and immediately becomes enamored. That night, she stumbles upon Drosselmeier performing a magic ritual that brings a huge, fuchsia mouse king into her home to finish a long-fought battle with her toys, led by her beloved—and now quite alive—nutcracker. Marie falls ill after she rescues him, and each day of her recovery, Drosselmeier spins a bedside tale of a princess cursed to transform into a human nutcracker and the astronomer’s son who saves her by embodying the curse himself. Each night, Marie makes a sacrifice to the terrifying mouse king, who demands payment for sparing her beloved nutcracker. A finale that inextricably weaves these two stories together leaves readers to determine for themselves the line between fantasy and reality. Andrewson makes smart choices with her adaptation, refocusing the story on passionate and empathetic Marie, who has the most personality of all the fairy tale–esque characters. Her distinctive illustration style is well matched to Hoffmann’s story, with vivid colors, wavy linework, and exaggerated facial expressions that all reinforce the trippy, unsettling plot. The majority of characters are White-presenting while there is some variety of skin color among secondary and background characters.
Unnerving and uncanny—just as it should be. (author's note) (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-59643-681-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power.
Will 12-year-old Nura be able to outsmart the trickster jinn and save herself and her friends?
Nura lives in the fictional Pakistani town of Meerabagh, where she has worked mining mica to help support her family of five—her mother, herself, and her three younger siblings—since her father’s death. In the mines she has the company of her best friend, Faisal, who is teased by other kids for his stutter, and she enjoys small pleasures like splurging on gulab jamun. Although Maa wants Nura to stop working and attend school, she has no interest in classroom learning and hopes to save up to send her younger siblings to school instead so they can break the family’s cycle of poverty. Following a mining accident in which Faisal and others are lost in the rubble, Nura goes to the rescue. In her quest, she is plunged into the magical, glittering jinn realm, where nothing is as it seems. The author seamlessly weaves into the worldbuilding of the story commentary on real-life problems such as the ravages of child labor and systems that perpetuate inequities. An informative author’s note further explores present-day global cycles of oppression as well as the life-changing power of education. This action-packed story set in a Muslim community moves at a fast pace, with evocative writing that brings the fantasy world to life and lyrical imagery to describe emotions.
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5795-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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