Marvelously entertaining.
Micah Tuttle begins to discover the depths of his own magic in this sequel to Circus Mirandus (2015).
Micah, just passing his 11th birthday, becomes more at home in Circus Mirandus and spends time perfecting his charmed knot tying (and untying), using threads, shoelaces, and string as the mediums for his magic. He hopes to capture feelings and memories in the knots and to understand the mechanism by which a knot might remain connected to one in a thread far away. He is given the responsibility of caring for the baby unicorn in the Circus Mirandus menagerie. Micah’s kindness and his affection for the lighthearted creature, Terpsichore, lead him to wonder whether the foal wasn’t really abandoned by the other unicorns but rather deliberately left with the circus to protect its life. The wicked grandmother whose reputation haunts Micah emerges as a powerful threat to both the circus and the world at large. Micah presents as white; several other primary characters are described as having dark skin or non-European origins; and Micah’s friend from outside the circus is Latinx-implied Jenny Mendoza. Beasley’s taut third-person narrative, wholly focused on Micah, is refreshingly free of unnecessary fantasy flourishes. Complex yet efficient, her storytelling is warmly comfortable and sure-handed. Each member of the circus’ varied magical community has a gift and an important role to play, and all the magic feels genuine and believable.
Marvelously entertaining. (Fantasy. 9-14)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55263-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Longing—for connection, for family, for a voice—roars to life with just a touch of magic.
A young girl bargaining for the health of her grandmother discovers both her family’s past and the strength of her own voice.
For many years, Lily’s Korean grandmother, Halmoni, has shared her Asian wisdom and healing powers with her predominantly White community. When Lily, her sister, Sam—both biracial, Korean and White—and their widowed mom move in with Halmoni to be close with her as she ages, Lily begins to see a magical tiger. What were previously bedtime stories become dangerously prophetic, as Lily begins to piece together fact from fiction. There is no need for prior knowledge of Korean folktales, although a traditional Korean myth propels the story forward. From the tiger, Lily learns that Halmoni has bottled up the hard stories of her past to keep sadness at bay. Lily makes a deal with the tiger to heal her grandmother by releasing those stories. What she comes to realize is that healing doesn’t mean health and that Halmoni is not the only one in need of the power of storytelling. Interesting supporting characters are fully developed but used sparingly to keep the focus on the simple yet suspenseful plot. Keller infuses this tale, which explores both the end of life and coming-of-age, with a sensitive examination of immigration issues and the complexity of home. It is at one and the same time completely American and thoroughly informed by Korean culture.
Longing—for connection, for family, for a voice—roars to life with just a touch of magic. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1570-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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