Like Simon, Maya and Penny, readers will find it hard to leave the magical world of Tamarind.
After rescuing their marine-biologist parents from a mysterious island in The Lost Island of Tamarind (2008), feisty siblings Maya, Simon and Penny encounter more amazing adventures as they return to prevent Tamarind’s destruction in this hair-raising sequel.
Since leaving Tamarind four years ago, Maya, Simon and Penny (16, 13 and 5, respectively) have lived quietly in Bermuda with their preoccupied parents, who worry about the Red Coral Project, a phony scientific study intent on ravaging Tamarind to extract the precious mineral ophalla. When Helix, their orphan pal from Tamarind, asks them to sail the Pamela Jane back to the island, Simon, Maya and Penny can’t refuse. Shocked to discover the Red Coral systematically destroying the island, they embark on an arduous quest. Eventually Simon assumes the hero’s role, following obscure clues hidden in three ophallagraphs, leading relentlessly to the Neglected Provinces, the Little Blue Door, the Mumbagua Falls, the Moraine of Lost Loved Ones and, ultimately, to Faustina’s Gate. Here, with Tamarind’s fate in his hands, Simon comes of age, “knowing his purpose is important and clear.” Replete with ecological warnings applicable to real as well as fantasy worlds and glossed with lush descriptions of imaginary flora and fauna, the rapid-fire plot bristles with danger.
Like Simon, Maya and Penny, readers will find it hard to leave the magical world of Tamarind. (map) (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-38030-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains.
Myla and Peter step into the path of a gang when they unite forces to find Peter’s runaway brother, Randall.
As they follow the graffiti tags that Randall has been painting in honor of the boys’ deceased father, they uncover a sinister history involving stolen diamonds, disappearances, and deaths. It started long ago when the boys’ grandmother, a diamond-cutter, partnered with the head of the gang. She was rumored to have hidden his diamonds before her suspicious death, leaving clues to their whereabouts. Now everyone is searching, including Randall. The duo’s collaboration is initially an unwilling one fraught with misunderstandings. Even after Peter and Myla bond over being the only people of color in an otherwise white school (Myla is Indian-American; mixed-race Peter is Indian, African-American, and white), Peter can’t believe the gang is after Myla. But Myla possesses a necklace that holds a clue. Alternating first-person chapters allow peeks into how Myla, Peter, and Randall unravel the story and decipher clues. Savvy readers will put the pieces together, too, although false leads and red herrings are cleverly interwoven. The action stumbles at times, but it takes place against the rich backdrops of gritty New York City and history-laden Dobbs Ferry and is made all the more colorful by references to graffiti art and parkour.
A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains. (Mystery. 10-12)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2296-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heaping plateful of adventure, spiced to perfection with dangers, deft humor and silly bits.
A seemingly ordinary lad boards a seagoing eatery and is swept up in a series of flights and pursuits that lead him to a higher destiny than he expects (or even wants, particularly).
Having banished all magic (even mention of the word) from the realm of Fontania, evil Lady Gall is on her way to removing the “Provisional” from her title of “Provisional Monarch.” Her attempt to poison Jasper’s beloved little sister Sibilla pitches his secretive extended family into hurried flight. Outraged and confused, Jasper is somehow left behind—but wangles a berth aboard the Traveling Restaurant, a floating diner painted like a circus wagon, and sets out to catch up. Else arranges her narrative into short chapters with titles like “This Is When It Becomes Fraught” and strews it with pirates, wild waters, sudden twists of fortune, family revelations and scrumptious tucker (Jasper finds a snatched chunk of salami “a farmyard of deliciousness in one mouthful”). She sets her quick-witted protagonist on a course that not only sharpens his already-considerable culinary skills but gives him a central role in rescuing his shipwrecked family, decisively scotching Lady Gall’s schemes and restoring magic to the land. Jasper does this with help from a supporting cast stocked with likable enemies, sometimes-unlikable allies and one particularly perspicuous toddler.
A heaping plateful of adventure, spiced to perfection with dangers, deft humor and silly bits. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-8775-7903-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Gecko Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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