Kindl, who brought readers the perfectly droll Owl in Love (1993) and the magically metaphoric Woman in the Wall (1997), this time offers a winsome and wickedly funny fairytale fractured in multiple places. Taking elements freely from a handful—at least—of familiar fairytales, she's made one of energy and spirit and no small amount of high hilarity. When the tale opens, the Goose Girl, the narrator, is stuck in a tower, kept prisoner because she doesn't like her prospective marital choices. The Prince is sweet but dim; and the King is wicked and blackhearted. The Goose Girl, whose name is actually Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, has been blessed with a number of attributes that could be useful: her tears are diamonds, and when she combs her hair, gold dust falls from it. But, she finds this all to be a pain, and she suspects the royal men's interest in her stems from her profitability. She escapes the tower because her 12 geese rescue her, and she continues to have adventures fending off ogresses (one with two heads) and escaping from capture and imprisonment, alone as well as with the feckless prince, whose heart has led him in search of her and whose mouth gets them in deeper trouble with great regularity. The geese pop up regularly, too, and Alexandria's golden hair has a recurring role as an escape tool. When true love blossoms, the Goose Girl is found to be royal, and her geese freed to be her sisters once again, readers will rejoice. Running the gamut from quiet chuckles to laugh-out-loud guffaws, this promises delight in great profusion to generations of readers now and to come. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-03377-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2001
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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