A time-traveling mystery that will keep readers involved and guessing up to the very end.
It’s 1997, and 12-year-old Alice’s regular life is in turmoil; a move to the countryside leads to supernatural adventure.
Alice has an overactive, vivid imagination—at least, according to her mother. But is what she sees always imaginary? After telling her emotionally absent, workaholic husband that she’s leaving him, Alice’s mother takes her daughter to Blackwood House, where she has a live-in nursing job caring for a wealthy old woman while she recovers from a fall. Alice is befriended by teenage Lily, the housekeeper’s daughter, who informs her that her bedroom is haunted. As Lily and Alice explore the house, they find a dollhouse in a locked room that becomes real in Alice’s dreams. Who are Fizz and Bubble—the sisters who also appear in her dreams—and what is her purpose in their lives? In her everyday world, Alice hopes her parents will reunite, worries about her mother’s flirtation with the local doctor, and tries to stay out of the way of her mother’s cranky patient. This is a twisty tale that goes in many different directions but never loses the main thread. The author carefully lays out clues for readers who like to solve mysteries themselves. Both Lily and Bubble are developmentally delayed; they are described respectfully and are fleshed-out characters. The cast members default to White.
A time-traveling mystery that will keep readers involved and guessing up to the very end. (Paranormal mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6906-4
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A richly atmospheric page-turner—readers will eagerly anticipate the forthcoming sequel.
Young Seren Rhys stands on the cusp of a new life. Unfortunately for her, the train to her new life is late.
Following the death of her aunt, who saved her from her 12-year stay at the orphanage, she receives word that her godfather, Capt. Arthur Jones, will take her in. Seren spends her wait dreaming of the Jones family and their surely bustling, welcoming manor, Plas-y-Fran in Wales. An encounter with a mysterious man and his more mysterious wrapped parcel (containing the eponymous mechanical bird) leaves Seren reeling, and the mysteries multiply when she arrives at Plas-y-Fran. The place is shuttered and cold, nearly deserted but for a few fearful, oppressively unforthcoming servants. The captain and his wife are away; of their young son, Tomos, there is neither sign nor sound. With the Crow as her only, if reluctant, ally, Seren soon finds herself enmeshed in mayhem and magic that may prove lethal. In her characteristic style, Fisher crafts an elaborate fantasy from deceptively simple language. Seren is a sharp, saucy narrator whose constant puzzlement at others’ consternation over her impertinence provides running amusement. Supporting characters are fascinating if ambiguous players, not so much poorly drawn as poorly revealed, perhaps casualties of the quick pace. The deadened manor, however, provides the perfect backdrop for preternatural forces. Characters are presumed white.
A richly atmospheric page-turner—readers will eagerly anticipate the forthcoming sequel. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1491-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
Fare to satisfy readers captivated by disaster, particularly outdoor enthusiasts, but less satisfying to aspiring feminists.
When a hurricane strikes the Alabama coastal swamps, it takes real expertise to survive.
Cort, 13, wants his father to pay attention to their bill-paying river-guide work on the Tensaw River delta instead of trying to win back Cort’s mother, who walked out six months ago. The intimidating geography and frightening nature of the swamp are established at the beginning of the book, when Cort and his dad take two hunters up the bayou to kill a gator. A momentary lull in the action follows on their return, and longtime residents of the Gulf Coast will find familiar the calm preparations that are made as Hurricane Igor approaches. Things begin to go wrong when Cort is left alone with the neighbor girls; Liza is Cort’s age, but Francie is 6. Spiraling disaster (including a cottonmouth bite suffered by Liza) leaves Cort feeling completely responsible for the safety and well-being of the three. While Cort relies on what he has learned from his father, it’s clear that it’s not enough. The unusual gathering of desperate animals escaping from high water is critical to the book’s suspense, as are the girls’ helplessness and fear. Though their situation emphasizes Cort’s determination to save them and throws his heroism into relief, it is unfortunate that the story can’t find a way for them to contribute.
Fare to satisfy readers captivated by disaster, particularly outdoor enthusiasts, but less satisfying to aspiring feminists. (Adventure. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-37430-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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