An emotional and visceral depiction of a young girl growing in the face of grief.
In Sano’s middle-grade novel, an awkward, science-loving girl comes face to face with death for the first time.
Camden, Maine, elementary schooler Andie is more comfortable around books and science experiments than she is around other people. Her mom is distant and her classmates bully her; she’s only close with her grandpa, whom she calls Papa. Just as Andie is gearing up to start a school science project about an ant farm, Papa receives a cancer diagnosis that leaves him with only three months to live. Instead of acknowledging her grief and fear, Andie focuses on her ant farm—with a little help from a magical magnifying glass that she acquires from a local antiques shop. With two turns of the instrument’s handle, Andie can shrink down to the size of an ant in her farm…or even that of a microbe on the surface of Papa’s skin. (“She was pretty certain her transition had broken several laws of physics, and after several failed attempts to theorize a plausible scientific explanation, she was forced to conclude the unthinkable. ‘It must be magic!’”) As Papa’s cancer progresses, Andie hatches a long-shot plan to cure him by harnessing the forces of the microscopic worlds that she now frequently visits. As she struggles to come to terms with Papa’s illness, Andie learns to let other people into her life and to let go of what she can’t control. Andie’s experiences aren’t for the squeamish, but her stubbornness and condescension make her a realistic, flawed protagonist who may be relatable to other young readers confronting death for the first time. Sano provides little explanation for the magic glass’s origins, but the novel is paced swiftly enough that readers are unlikely to be confused. Her pen-and-ink illustrations at the head of each chapter are light, sketchy, and sometimes a bit less polished than the text itself.
An emotional and visceral depiction of a young girl growing in the face of grief.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781633814806
Page Count: 163
Publisher: Maine Authors Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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