A compassionate, thought-provoking take on family, friendship, grief, and renewal.
After her brother suffers a severe brain injury, Persephone concocts a scheme to help her struggling family, but her good intentions go awry.
Thirteen-year-old Persephone Pearl Clark has never encountered a plant she couldn’t bring to life. Sadly, she can’t do the same for Levi, her beloved big brother, who remains unresponsive after a diving accident. One year later, her parents are mired in medical bills, and Levi’s condition is deteriorating. When Persephone discovers that Levi had intended to submit their former mining town in Wisconsin to Small Town Revival, a reality show that awards $100,000 to the contestant who transforms their town most dramatically, she realizes that the prize could buy Levi expensive advanced treatments as well as pay existing bills. Forging Levi’s signature, she submits his application, setting off a chain of secrets and lies that threatens to ruin everything. Despite quiet magical touches—an uncannily communicative cat; an eccentric woman tending her temperamental, sentient house and garden—Hautala realistically explores tough issues. Persephone’s grief and trauma are unflinchingly portrayed, as are her strained relationships with her equally wounded but staunchly supportive family and friends. Persephone’s inadvertent exploitation of Levi, who cannot consent, which is born out of her desperation to help, is gently but firmly countered by her parents’ respect for his dignity. Occasionally lyrical prose enhances the alternately cozy and stifling small-town atmosphere. Most characters, including Persephone, default to White.
A compassionate, thought-provoking take on family, friendship, grief, and renewal. (author’s note) (Fabulism. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-46368-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick.
An elderly witch, a magical girl, a brave carpenter, a wise monster, a tiny dragon, paper birds, and a madwoman converge to thwart a magician who feeds on sorrow.
Every year Elders of the Protectorate leave a baby in the forest, warning everyone an evil Witch demands this sacrifice. In reality, every year, a kind witch named Xan rescues the babies and find families for them. One year Xan saves a baby girl with a crescent birthmark who accidentally feeds on moonlight and becomes “enmagicked.” Magic babies can be tricky, so Xan adopts little Luna herself and lovingly raises her, with help from an ancient swamp monster and a chatty, wee dragon. Luna’s magical powers emerge as her 13th birthday approaches. Meanwhile, Luna’s deranged real mother enters the forest to find her daughter. Simultaneously, a young carpenter from the Protectorate enters the forest to kill the Witch and end the sacrifices. Xan also enters the forest to rescue the next sacrificed child, and Luna, the monster, and the dragon enter the forest to protect Xan. In the dramatic denouement, a volcano erupts, the real villain attempts to destroy all, and love prevails. Replete with traditional motifs, this nontraditional fairy tale boasts sinister and endearing characters, magical elements, strong storytelling, and unleashed forces. Luna has black eyes, curly, black hair, and “amber” skin.
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61620-567-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
A compelling read about the meaning of family, identity, and culture, set in pre–Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico.
In searching for his absentee father, a biracial boy gets closer to his Puerto Rican roots.
Though Marcus Vega was born in Puerto Rico, the 14-year-old hasn’t been back since he was 2. Marcus lives outside of Philadelphia with his mom, a white woman, and his little brother, Charlie, who has Down syndrome. Marcus towers over the other kids, and he uses his size to his advantage, walking kids to and from school and stashing their phones in his locker (out of the principal’s reach) for cash. After a school bully calls Charlie “the one word that sends [him] into a blind rage,” Marcus punches him in the mouth and is suspended. Marcus’ mom decides that the three of them should go on a trip to regroup, which is how they find themselves in Puerto Rico looking for the dad Marcus hasn’t seen in 10 years, a search that takes them and readers all over the island. Immigrant and first-generation readers will relate to Marcus’ feelings of not belonging in Puerto Rico. Marcus’ eagerness to reconnect with the father who abandoned him is believably naïve and allows him to overlook his relatives’ criticisms of his dad, but both they and Cartaya allow him the space to come to his own conclusions. Marcus' Puerto Rican relatives are lively and loving; their English conversations with Marcus include non-italicized Spanish words and phrases that provide cultural texture.
A compelling read about the meaning of family, identity, and culture, set in pre–Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-99726-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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