A fully immersive and enchanting fantasy that readers will get lost in.
A bold girl’s secret family history and her care for an orphaned wolf pup lead her on a legendary quest.
After a Hunter from Malechia demands shelter at her home in Devia, 13-year-old Sona Kalpani learns a shocking secret. The Hunter’s suspicious gaze forces Sona’s Malech farmer father to reveal the truth: She’s the daughter of his late sister, who was killed by the Goldstorm that also claimed Sona’s real father, a Devan. The gem-seeking Malechs, who’ve colonized Devia for hundreds of years, have outlawed interracial marriage and banned music, which is how Devans wield magic and communicate with animals. Sona realizes she must act, since the Hunter is seeking the injured wolf she rescued, and her loving Ayah is ill from a Goldstorm. Sona sets off with Raag, a boy from a nearby village; Willa, her beloved gray pony; and Swara to journey to Mount Meru, which is sacred to Earth Goddess Bhoomi and is the source of amrita, “the golden nectar of life.” Raag is sure that Swara’s one of the five magical beasts from Devan legend, and Sona and Raag find connections to a prophecy that may free Devia. LaRocca’s intricate South Asian–inspired world is richly developed. The tightly written narrative is interspersed with folklore, letters, songs, and other writing that flesh out the troubled history and wounds of colonization that can only begin to be healed with truth-telling and love.
A fully immersive and enchanting fantasy that readers will get lost in. (map) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063295407
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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