An intriguing premise, but one that fails to develop.
Two friends embark on a make-believe adventure that turns real in this first book in Thomson’s (Truth Seekers: Be Strong and Courageous, 2015, etc.) middle-grade Christian-fiction series.
One afternoon, best friends Isabella Johnson and Josie Springwood decide to play “imagine if” and make up a story that incorporates the key that Isabella wears on a necklace. It’s the only thing that Isabella has left of her mother, who disappeared five years before. The girls use the key on an old stone door and, to their surprise, it fits perfectly. Passing through the door transports the girls into a beautiful forest, and they quickly realize that their game has led them to another world. Then a band of men capture them, and the youngsters soon learn of the troubles of the land, involving the evil King Ahaza and the beloved queen he captured. It also becomes clear that there may be more to Isabella than she knows, and that the girls’ arrival could herald a change, both for the new world and for Isabella’s broken family. Thomson’s book has a promising premise and starts off strong. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t smoothly develop either the story or the characters. Instead, the narrator frequently tells readers that characters suddenly know the truth of something (“somehow she knew this boy was trustworthy”; “One thing I know is that you are your mother and father’s daughter”). Isabella starts as a shaken, confused, and unsure girl whose prayers lead to sudden, unexplained knowledge, including her solid determination that she’s a “servant-princess” who will lead the people against the evil king. The author overuses divine inspiration as both a reaction and solution to nearly every situation, resulting in a story with little suspense. Ultimately, there isn’t much in this book that will capture readers’ imaginations beyond the initial setup, as they learn relatively little new information about the characters as the story goes on.
An intriguing premise, but one that fails to develop.Pub Date: July 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62839-189-3
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Xulon Press
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
