Despite a sense of playacting, this is a gently adventurous and luxuriously detailed romp.
A princess requests and receives a country for her 13th birthday.
With her very own country, Princess Juniper will be able to interact with others in informal, casual ways—kind of. She gathers kids to journey to her “brand-new kingdom,” where she’ll be queen and they’ll be her subjects. But instead of their scheduled departure, the kids are rushed off the palace grounds at night, hearing distant battle sounds and directed by the king to a place on no map. The hidden basin in the mountains is idyllic, with a waterfall, fruit trees, and bedrooms carved in the rock. Juniper loses her rule—for withholding information about the war back at home—and mounts an exciting scheme to recover it. However, this text isn’t anti-royalist: the other kids are her “friends” and “family” but still her “subjects”; and if a ruler’s heart is in the right place, it’s fine to demand heaps of work (and work itself is romanticized). Luxuries (“silks and scarves and paints and powders”) and sumptuous meals (“crispy cheese sticks”; “fresh sage griddle cakes topped with sweet butter and honey syrup”) evoke stories from a bygone era. Unfortunately, matching that old-fashioned sensibility is a “notoriously secretive tribe” of “obscure origin and uncertain habitation” and “wildness”—a stereotypical, Romany-esque portrayal regrettably poised for a larger role in the sequel.
Despite a sense of playacting, this is a gently adventurous and luxuriously detailed romp. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-399-17151-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that...
Antics both instructive and embarrassing ensue after a mysterious package left on their doorstep brings a Founding Father into the lives of two modern children.
Summoned somehow by what looks for all the world like an old-time crystal radio set, Ben Franklin turns out to be an amiable sort. He is immediately taken in hand by 7-year-old Olive for a tour of modern wonders—early versions of which many, from electrical appliances in the kitchen to the Illinois town’s public library and fire department, he justly lays claim to inventing. Meanwhile big brother Nolan, 10, tags along, frantic to return him to his own era before either their divorced mom or snoopy classmate Tommy Tuttle sees him. Fleming, author of Ben Franklin’s Almanac (2003) (and also, not uncoincidentally considering the final scene of this outing, Our Eleanor, 2005), mixes history with humor as the great man dispenses aphorisms and reminiscences through diverse misadventures, all of which end well, before vanishing at last. Following a closing, sequel-cueing kicker (see above) she then separates facts from fancies in closing notes, with print and online leads to more of the former. To go with spot illustrations of the evidently all-white cast throughout the narrative, Fearing incorporates change-of-pace sets of sequential panels for Franklin’s biographical and scientific anecdotes. Final illustrations not seen.
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that adds flavor without weight. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93406-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
A clever, magical romp, overflowing with high drama and low humor.
In this second series entry, blue-freckled foundling Spella De-broom Cauldroneyes and friends take an exciting shopping trip to Mummy City—arriving just in time to help save the world.
Gathering up both her shy best friend, Tolden Tutters (whose dragon, Softfang, serves as his hearing aid), and the many fantastical hats of her green-skinned guardian witch, Mathilda Cauldroneyes, 8-year-old Spella leaves jolly Hungry Snout Forest for the big city. There, the disappearances of a certain very powerful old cauldron and a rising number of the city’s residents signal that trouble’s beginning to bubble. (“Toothless Toz is ten feet tall and smells of old cheese…His arm fell off in 3356 BC and was never found again, so he used a feather duster in its place.”) As it happens, Stonescare, a “frightful, mean wizard,” has recruited some scary allies for a new scheme. Readers fond of stories filled with silly names, ingenious spellcasting both helpful (a sandwich-dispensing cardigan pocket) and otherwise (screaming farts), and engaging magical creatures (booger-eating purple unicorns, tree wart trolls quaintly collecting roozle wart for their morning tea) will echo Spella’s favorite expression of delight—“toadfire!”—at the many comical twists. They’ll also appreciate the summary way the fledgling wand-wielder sends a pair of sneering bullies packing. The ending promises more adventures to come. Final art not seen.
A clever, magical romp, overflowing with high drama and low humor. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665955348
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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