A fantastical, frost-filled, coming-of-age debut.
A contemporary girl finds her life magically transformed after learning her father’s identity.
Like her namesake, 12-year-old Owl McBride has feathery, “white-blond hair,” “almost yellow” eyes, and a nose on the “beaky side,” but she lives a nearly normal life with her single-parent mother. Raised on her mother’s stories about meeting Owl’s father in “magical wintry lands,” Owl’s otherwise clueless about his identity. As winter approaches, Owl’s skin starts prickling, turns blue white, and sparkles with frost, triggering an “almost overwhelming” need to know about her father. When her mother reveals that Jack Frost, the legendary frost spirit, is Owl’s father, she’s stunned. During their first frosty encounter, Owl finds Jack a wild, elemental creature lacking humanity, while he eschews his paternity and views her as a challenge. Seeking Jack’s guidance to control her emerging powers, Owl journeys to his winter kingdom and eventually confronts his elemental rivals, hoping to earn her rightful place as his daughter. Despite her new powers, Owl remains a vulnerable, credible girl, grounded by her best friend as she learns what it means to be Jack Frost’s kid. Her lively, suspenseful, first-person narration alternates with dreamlike sequences featuring such earth spirits as the North Wind, the Queen of May, and the Green Man.
A fantastical, frost-filled, coming-of-age debut. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-267148-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Embedding their appealing protagonist in a fully realized Caribbean setting, Callender has readers rooting for Caroline the...
Born during a storm, Caroline Murphy, a 12-year-old black girl, is convinced that she has been cursed with bad luck.
The old ladies around her way say this is the fate of any child born during a hurricane. Recent events in her life seem to confirm this. Feeling unwanted by everyone, especially since the abrupt departure of her mom, Caroline leads a difficult life. She is bullied by those at her school in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, including her teacher, for her skin, which is darker than theirs. She is also followed around by a spirit—the woman in black—that she is sure only she can see. The arrival of a new student from Barbados changes Caroline’s life significantly. Also bullied, the exuberantly dreadlocked Kalinda becomes Caroline’s first and only friend, and soon Caroline’s feelings blossom into something more than platonic. This spells problems for Caroline, since feelings like these are considered sinful in Catholic school. Caroline now must deal with growing up without a mother and her feelings for Kalinda, all while trying to figure out why the woman in black will not leave her alone. Her journey to the answers to her most burning questions finds her discovering much about herself and those around her. Writing in Caroline’s present-tense voice, Callender draws readers in and makes them identify with Caroline’s angst and sorrow and joy and pain.
Embedding their appealing protagonist in a fully realized Caribbean setting, Callender has readers rooting for Caroline the whole way. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-12930-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Unbelievable, improbable, and illogical—but quite delightful.
Joel, Nina, and their mother, Mrs. Popper, are distantly related to the family whose penguins made the town of Stillwater famous years ago.
In nearby Hillport, Mrs. Popper has purchased an abandoned house that had once been a penguin petting zoo. While exploring their new home, the children discover two intact penguin eggs in the basement. They care for the eggs surreptitiously, without telling Mom. Once the eggs hatch, the baby penguins, now named Ernest and Mae, are mischievous and clever, and the secret is soon out. The family decides to bring Ernest and Mae to join the original group of penguins that was relocated to Popper Island in the Arctic—never mind that penguins’ habitat is the Antarctic. They travel by boat, with Yuka, an Inuit doctoral student in zoology, as their guide and leader. Journey highlights include a penguin-caused glitch in the boat’s computer systems, a vicious Arctic storm, and lively interactions with the island-based penguins. Due to a puffin problem they decide to haul all the penguins to Antarctica, their rightful habitat. Schrefer clearly greatly admires the beloved, more-than–80-year-old classic, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, keeping readers informed by referring to its characters and events while adding a modern, eco-friendly viewpoint and lots of fun and laughs. Joel and Nina are sweet, resourceful, and wonderfully kind, as are Mom and Yuka. (Illustrations not seen.)
Unbelievable, improbable, and illogical—but quite delightful. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-49542-4
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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