Readers will be charmed by both the characters and scenery in this moral, upbeat YA fantasy.
Crepeau (Turn Back Time, 2014, etc.) offers a YA fantasy in which a teenage orphan inherits property in Ireland and stumbles into a war that threatens the fae kingdom.
Sixteen-year-old Bridget Kerins lives alone in a shabby apartment in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. She works two jobs, both of her parents have passed away, and her neighbor Mrs. Miller vouches for her as an “aunt” to the authorities. Miraculously, Bridget learns from Ana Gurney, an Irish lawyer, that she’s inherited land near the Irish village of Swinford. Using money she’s saved, Bridget crosses the Atlantic in the hope of starting a new life. The situation changes, however, when Ana is mistaken for Bridget on the road to the property; a foul creature named Dagda, who works for the evil sorceress Morrigan, kidnaps the lawyer, believing her to be the one prophesied to save the fae peoples. Bridget safely rents a car at the airport and makes her way toward Swinford. She meets Aunt Polly, a brownie, and is indoctrinated into the fae world—and the notion that she has special powers, due to faerie and leprechaun ancestry. But even with the help of the handsome Lord Howth, who’s disguised as a Brittany spaniel, can Bridget master her abilities in time to save Ana and the fae? Author Crepeau begins a new YA fantasy series featuring a vibrant cast of mythological characters and a deep appreciation for the majesty of Ireland. The lousiness of Bridget’s Red Hook life is hammered home in lines such as, “she washes the stairs with buckets of bleach water, but nothing removes the odor of urine and stale beer.” (High school for this teenager isn’t even mentioned.) Later, in Ireland and eventually Scotland, the “green hilly pastures that go on for miles” enchant her, as do ruins and ancient castles. When Morrigan’s machinations begin, readers meet creatures such as the strange Anthropophagi (“a headless creature appears, his eyes placed on his shoulders, and his mouth is in the center of his chest. He has no nose”) but also heroic fae royalty, including King Padraig and Queen Geraldine and even a few Arthurian legends. Bridget learns much about herself by the end, including that “Sometimes it is easier...to believe in things outside ourselves, rather than believe in ourselves.”
Pub Date: April 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5188-9830-3
Page Count: 214
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With an emphasis on Western “makers” of the millennium, and, perhaps inevitably, deep coverage of the last 200 years and fleeting coverage of the first few centuries, this volume offers brief biographical sketches of 1,000 people who had an impact on the last 1,000 years. Profusely illustrated and printed on heavy glossy stock, this is a coffee table book for children, meant to be dipped into rather than read from start to finish. Organized chronologically, with a chapter for each century, the parade of people is given context through a timeline of major events, with those of particular importance discussed in special boxes. As with any effort of this kind, there are surprising omissions (the publisher is creating a website for readers’ own suggestions) and inclusions, a Western predominance that grows more pronounced in the later centuries, and an emphasis on sports and celebrity that finishes off the last few decades. The selection can seem highly subjective and provocatively arbitrary, e.g., the US presidents from Nixon back to Teddy Roosevelt are all covered, but none after Nixon. Still, there is a clear effort to include a wide variety of countries and cultures, and this ambitious effort will be the starting point for many historical journeys. (chronology, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7894-4709-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
This unusual poetry anthology is a compilation of 43 contemporary poets’ responses to self-selected images, ranging from photographs to sculpture. The poets may tell a story inspired by the art, assume the voice of the subject, describe the piece, or explore some technical aspect of the work. Poems are written in traditional forms, free verse, or patterns. Greenberg (Frank O. Gehry: Outside In, 2000, etc.) contributes a poem in the shape of a diamond to accompany Chuck Close’s self-portrait in diamond shapes. Jacob Lawrence’s “Barber Shop,” a colorful, jazzy gouache on paper, inspires Peter F. Neumeyer to match the feelings engendered in the painting with words that describe the barbershop as a “shrewd skeptic joshing where the brothers meet.” William Jay Smith reacts to Elie Nadelman’s wooden sculpture “Woman at the Piano” with a story beginning, “When the tall thin lady started to play the notes flew up and out and away.” Artists represented include Georgia O’Keeffe, Red Grooms, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Hopper, Faith Ringgold, Mark Rothko, and Roy Liechtenstein. Poets include Deborah Chandra, Kristine O’Connell George, Angela Johnson, Naomi Shihab Nye, and X.J. Kennedy. The color reproduction of the works from museum slides is excellent, and the varied arrangements of text and art on the page lends interest. Some of the works are accessible to young children; others are more sophisticated. An index and biographical notes on the poets and artists are useful additions. A beautiful volume that brings words and pictures together in wonderful tributes from artist to artist. (Nonfiction. All ages)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8109-4386-7
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
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