A first novel contrived around the credulous inhabitants of a medieval village battling an imaginary dragon that represents their own fears; unfortunately, Ellis's style and plotting are not skillful enough to realize her theme's potential. Protagonist Kate, 13, has unusual hopes: interested in healing, she'd like to be apprenticed to the apothecary and to learn to read. These ambitions are interrupted by rumors of a dragon in the dreaded forest; greedy treasure-seekers, the normally rational, and the gullible are all caught up in the furor and set out to battle what is really a series of violent thunderstorms and consequent fires. Kate sneaks along, taking some ``magic'' unicorn horn powder that, hurled at the crucial moment in the battle, ``causes'' a downpour that puts the fire out. There follows a misty, dreamlike vision of a unicorn, confirming everyone's belief that Kate has performed heroically. Though the story moves along smoothly, it has a generic quality: no particular time or place, stock characters, predictable images. Most disappointing, the potent symbol of the dragon isn't really explored; a wise old herb woman tells Kate that sometime in the future people may ``no longer be in terror of dragons. Then they can struggle against other evils.'' But what those are, or why fighting the imaginary dragon is itself an evil, is never suggested. Acceptable as undemanding fare. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-8050-1713-5
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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