A gently enjoyable fantasy with worthwhile lessons for young readers.
A debut children’s fantasy book that delves into the afterlife.
Precocious 11-year-old Gabriel McGregor lives a normal life in the suburban home he shares with his hyperactive younger sister, Emma, and his quiet, intelligent mother, Susan. He knows next to nothing about his stern scientist father, who died when Gabriel was 5 years old. Gabriel allows his ego and intellect to distance himself from his family and from other people. Things change forever after Gabriel invades his dead father’s forbidden laboratory and, in a freak accident, Emma electrocutes him. The story moves from the McGregors’ sad, mildly quirky world into a sort of Dante’s Inferno for kids, as the spirit of the deceased Gabriel wanders through strange vistas of the afterlife (featuring, among other things, talking paper cups and flying sneakers). When he’s wrongly sent to Hell to be judged by Satan, he tries to find a way to return to a life that he never fully appreciated. As Gabriel overcomes dangers and learns lessons, he finds a helper in a two-headed ram named LugWig (or, rather, one head is named Lug, the other Wig); he also finds himself pursued by the demonic Payne and his hellhound, Mabel. Ultimately, Gabriel gets the answers he’s been looking for, as well as a few that he hadn’t expected. The book’s breezy, chatty narrative style has a faint hint of Lemony Snicket’s work, and the storyline is wryly self-referential throughout; for example, Gabriel always knows when he’s learning a lesson, but he recognizes their value all the same. The characters are smartly written, with a light touch even in the darkest moments; LugWig, the book’s “id” and “ego” to Gabriel’s burgeoning “superego,” is a particular standout. The novel’s dialogue is particularly strong, and Gabriel’s words ring true as those of a know-it-all child who doesn’t quite know it all yet.
A gently enjoyable fantasy with worthwhile lessons for young readers.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Booktango
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The charming story of a brave child’s decision to make her life better.
An exuberant, cotton-candy pink introduction to hearing loss and cochlear implants for ages 5 and up.
Little Almigal’s hearing loss doesn’t get much better with hearing aids. While Ali’s friend Penelope, whose hearing aids work for her, uses both her voice and signs to communicate, Almigal only knows a word or two of sign language, so she’s frustrated at missing out on the sounds in her world. She declares that she needs “to hear every single sound in the whole entire universe!”—especially her parents saying “We love you Almigal” when she’s in bed and not wearing her hearing aids. Her doctor suggests cochlear implants to improve her hearing, and Almigal is all for it. The book gently covers Almigal’s trip to the hospital for the operation and the importance of handling the implants carefully, as displayed in episodes where Almigal fails to treat the implants properly, thus learning how important that care can be. The implants successfully help Almigal hear all the things she’d been missing. Although the story skips the controversy surrounding cochlear implants and their place in the deaf community, the cheerful inclusiveness will be a welcome introduction for children. Kupfer—whose own daughter, Ali, was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at 10 months of age—celebrates uniqueness, while the delightful, full-page illustrations show the lively heroine and her friends and family enjoying their differences. Almigal considers herself to be the luckiest girl in the world. “Do you want to know why?” she asks. “Because I have so many friends and each one is different.”
The charming story of a brave child’s decision to make her life better.Pub Date: April 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983829409
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sci-fi novel that soars along with a teenage heroine whose imperfections help make her believable and endearing.
A 17-year-old pilot with a history of crashing her craft holds a planet’s fate in her hands when a human settlement on Mars runs low on food.
Flight-obsessed Jessamyn Jaarda faces the biggest mission of her life in the fourth YA sci-fi novel from Swanson (Unfurl, 2012, etc.). Fired from pilot training for crashing one craft and praised for doing the same to another, Jess inspires unpredictable reactions in people. Maybe that’s because Jess lives, as she flies, by pure instinct, and no one knows whether that trait will enable her to save her planet when, because of potential starvation for a human settlement on Mars, she must fly to Earth on a food raid. Along with her brother, however, the red-haired teenager has the courage to attempt the mission and stick with it when it goes terribly wrong. Swanson paces this story beautifully, weaving exposition tightly into the plot as disaster interrupts everyday routines. Despite the strangeness of the Martian environment, the novel quickly establishes the humanity of Jess and other characters, as when Jess tries and fails to help her brother resist a bout of claustrophobia or when she first locks eyes with her planet’s only dog and feels something sweep through her: “A something that reminded her of taking her craft toward breaking day or of watching Phobos as the swift moon zipped across the night sky. The dog was...wondrous.” At first, Jess sees everything through the lens of her obsession with flight, but she becomes far too multifaceted, distractible and passionate to be mistaken for an archetype. Watching her grow and struggle to survive makes this book hard to put down.
A sci-fi novel that soars along with a teenage heroine whose imperfections help make her believable and endearing.Pub Date: July 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983562160
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Williams Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
