Richly complex and nourishing.
The third book in the Finding Serendipity series finds Tuesday McGillycuddy back in the fictional world of Vivienne Small, but this time Tuesday’s adversary is a jealous character of her mother’s own imagination.
Tuesday and her mother, Sarah (aka Serendipity Smith, the world-famous author of the Vivienne Small series), are struggling with depression, brought on by the death a year earlier of Denis McGillycuddy, husband of Sarah and father of Tuesday. Within the world of Vivienne Small, Serendipity’s depression has both caused an earthquake and continual winter and unleashed Loddon—a character imagined by the child Serendipity. Loddon, jealous of Vivienne, captures her and forces her to summon Serendipity, but it is Tuesday who arrives by mistake. What follows is both an adventure story as Tuesday fights for her life (with Baxterr, the winged dog, and Tuesday’s godmother, Colette Baden-Baden, searching for her) and a story of healing as Serendipity faces fears begotten in a lonely childhood. Writing duo Banks (adult authors Heather Rose and Danielle Wood) weaves these narratives together with admirable skill and compassion, bringing a sophistication to this story of the writing life, including wonderful writing metaphors, such as “Other [staircases] stopped…short…as if you were simply meant to jump.” While the themes of depression and emotional healing may pass over some readers, others will doubtless feel seen and validated. Lewis’ spot illustrations show the human characters as white.
Richly complex and nourishing. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62779-156-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This book, drenched in Cuban Spanish and personality, is a breath of fresh air.
Salvador Vidón is the new kid at Miami’s magnet school Culeco Academy of the Arts, but being at a special school doesn’t protect Sal from trouble.
Bullies are everywhere, but seventh-grader Sal knows just how to handle a difficult kid like Yasmany Robles. Obviously, you deal with a bully by opening a portal into another universe, taking a raw chicken from it, and planting it in the bully’s locker. But you cannot just go opening portals into other universes without some consequences. For one, Sal gets sent to the principal on only his third day at Culeco and in the process meets Gabi Reál, who isn’t buying Sal’s innocent-magician act. The more pressing issue is that when Sal opens portals, sometimes his deceased mother comes through from alternate universes where she still exists—Mami Muerta, in Sal’s words. But if you could bring your dead mother back, wouldn’t you? The story moves quickly, with lots of multiverse traffic, school hijinks, and strong, smart, diverse characters. Most are Cuban-American in various shades of brown, like Sal, Gabi, and Yasmany, and Hernandez effortlessly folds in multiple intersectionalities, including Sal’s diabetes and Gabi’s unusual, delightfully matter-of-fact family structure. Secondary characters receive as much care and love as the primary cast, and readers will find themselves laughing out loud and rooting for Sal, Gabi, and even Yasmany until the very end.
This book, drenched in Cuban Spanish and personality, is a breath of fresh air. (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: March 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-02282-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents/Disney
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
Fans of mythology-based fantasies will devour this adventure and anxiously await the next installment.
Abby is your average 12-year-old North Carolinian—and Viking.
She has been eager for years to follow in her mother's footsteps as an Aesir, or Viking warrior charged with protecting the world from Grendels, descendants of the same monster faced down by Beowulf. Still reeling from her mother’s death four years ago, Abby is worried because she hasn’t developed the unusual abilities needed by Aesirs. After she is attacked at home, she and her father head to Vale Hall, an elite Minnesota private school her mother also attended. Along the way they are attacked again, and her father falls into a mysterious coma. Abby is positive a Grendel is after her, but the Viking council at Vale Hall doesn't believe her. She quickly befriends Grimsby and Gwynn, each with their own burdens and secrets. Together they try to find a cure for her father, in the process uncovering secrets from her mother's past and discovering some truths hiding at Vale Hall. This entertaining debut novel seamlessly blends Norse mythology with a modern-day setting to tell an action-packed and humorous story. In addition, the book explores grief, growing up, and starting over with sensitivity and insight. Abby and most other characters are cued as White; Gwynn is described as Asian American.
Fans of mythology-based fantasies will devour this adventure and anxiously await the next installment. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-63607-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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