A sparkling series opener featuring dynamic, winsome characters.
Wolf’s (The Misses Brontë’s Establishment, 2015) YA fantasy delivers a troubled, modern-day teenager to a land populated by kindly dragons and villainous slayers.
When she was 10 years old, Mattie Sharpe of Burbank, California, found a dragon egg in LA’s Griffith Park. After it hatched, she named the dragon Toutles, and they became best friends. Eventually, however, Toutles grew too large to hide in Mattie’s room, so her mother ordered her to take the creature to the zoo. The girl instead freed her companion in Griffith Park, only to see him vanish through a shimmering portal. Seven years later, Mattie is still scarred by the loss of her friend; she hangs out with bullies, drinks, and worries little about failing high school. One day, she cuts class and visits the famous Chinese theater in Hollywood. When she sees one of its dragon sculptures move, she’s compelled to run toward it, and doing so propels her into the realm of Cavernis, where she reunites with her childhood friend, now called Artorius. The consumption of a bit of dragon’s blood helps her understand him and other giant reptiles who attend the Academia Sollertibus Hydris, or the Academy for Clever Hydras. The school’s president, Praeses, informs her that she’s in Cavernis to fulfill a prophecy—one that pits her against the followers of St. George. Wolf does an excellent job of portraying teenage cynicism; for example, Mattie, who used to love animals, says, “Why bother to save the world—or its wildlife...when corporate greed was doing its best to destroy it?” Our heroine’s attitude begins shifting, though, once she’s in Cavernis facing new challenges, such as learning to sword fight and joust, and engaging in a surreal social life. The author has fun representing every kind of dragon imaginable, including two-legged wyverns, half-human nāgas, and the long, rippling Asian variety. She also craftily builds upon the legend of St. George and the dragon to give the academy a nation of worthy opponents. Woven finely throughout is a subtle romance that readers will be eager to see blossom in future installments. An all-out-war in this book’s finale should please action fans.
A sparkling series opener featuring dynamic, winsome characters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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