Engaging fantasy adventure for preteen pig pals. (Adventure. 8-12)
Out of the way, Wilbur and Babe: Your cousin Flora has “adventurous hooves”!
As a piglet on a farm that raises sled dogs, Flora, who's always been more curious than her brothers (much to her mother's chagrin), wants nothing more than to take her place in the line of dogs pulling a sled. Her best friend, Luna the cat, tells Flora that the adventures she seeks are nothing but trouble; and trouble will find her whether she looks for it or not. Trouble lands Flora in the hold of a ship, where she’s mystifyingly called "ham bone" and "sausage" by Amos the cook. Thanks to rat-catching lessons from Luna, Flora can assist new cat-friend Sophia. She likes being useful this way, but why is Flora on a ship headed for the South Pole if not to help the sled dogs? When tragedy strikes, the whole crew counts itself lucky to have such a courageous pig along for the expedition. Kurtz's plucky piggy tale may stretch believability on occasion, but it will greatly satisfy fans of Dick King-Smith and E.B. White looking for something similar. Reinhardt's black-and-white, pen-and-ink illustrations are perhaps a bit too cartoon-sweet for a title featuring realistic rat slaughter and an existential desire not to be food, but every spot illustration will elicit a smile.
Engaging fantasy adventure for preteen pig pals. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-63455-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Ratcheted-up stakes keep readers invested in this rollicking-good sequel.
In this sequel to Maya and the Rising Dark (2020), Maya and her Papa, the orisha Elegguá, are repairing a gigantic tear in the veil, the astral divider between humanity and the Dark.
This exercise is part of Chicago resident Maya’s continuing lessons as a guardian-in-training. Of course, the Lord of Shadows chooses this moment for a vengeful strike in retaliation for the orishas’ killing of his creations, the darkbringers. Maya notices Papa is taking longer to recover than usual; he confesses that ever since the Lord of Shadows held him captive, his strength and powers haven’t quite returned—but he doesn’t know why. During Elegguá’s visit with wise orisha Obatala in the city of Azur, Obatala tells him that the Lord of Shadows took his soul during the battle in which Maya set Elegguá free. Without his soul, Elegguá will slowly die. In the meantime, some of Maya’s schoolmates come into their own godling powers, which causes them internal confusion and their middle school to erupt into chaos—and could lead to celestial chaos as well. Like its predecessor, this volume presents a multicultural universe that centers West African influences; the worldbuilding is developed here in greater detail, with the action picking up later in the novel. Readers are plunged into a continuation of the story with little recap, making knowledge of the first book a necessity.
Ratcheted-up stakes keep readers invested in this rollicking-good sequel. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-10632-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
A delightful read for anyone who loves magic.
When 12-year-old Rufus Takada Collins finds an old train, it puts him in the midst of a magical, life-or-death scavenger hunt.
After a school year characterized by what he thinks of as a series of Fatal Errors, Rufus is looking forward to spending the summer with Grandpa Jack at Feylawn, the family property that encompasses forest, meadow, creek, and orchard. At Feylawn, Rufus finds an old-fashioned locomotive. Unfortunately, Grandpa Jack is hurt falling through rotting floorboards before he can learn about the train, and Rufus’ father bans Rufus from Feylawn. Rufus sneaks back and finds he can now see fairylike creatures called feylings. He discovers the train is the feylings’ only way home, and it’s been missing for years. With the help of his pretentious cousin, Rufus must decipher old clues to find the missing train parts. But this journey leads him to possibly the ultimate Fatal Error. With mischievous feylings, goblins, and magic, this is an exciting, fast-paced middle-grade fantasy. The characters’ experiences are also grounded in the real world: parental unemployment, divorce, friendship, familial bonds, growing up, family secrets, grief, and loss. Big lessons for readers and Rufus both are the importance of looking at the bigger picture and understanding how choices affect more than just ourselves. Both cousins are biracial; Rufus’ mother is of Japanese heritage, and his father is white, and Abigail’s father is Mexican, and her mother is white.
A delightful read for anyone who loves magic. (map) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-374-30119-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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