Sensitive, well balanced, and psychologically acute, with an appealing animal-communication motif.
After her mother’s tragic death, a teenager discovers she can communicate telepathically with animals in this YA adventure.
The summer before turning 14, Willow Ward loses her mother to a car accident, which also robs Willow of the sight in one eye and leaves her with an ugly scar on her face. But she also gains something: an ability to communicate with animals, even at a distance. When she tries to tell her father, he reacts with skeptical ridicule, so for the next two years, Willow keeps her gift a secret. She gets help, though, from a snow-white raven who speaks to her in dreams: “I have come to be your friend and guide,” explains the dream raven. Two (real) black ravens help keep Willow safe outdoors by transmitting images of dangerous creatures nearby—the wildlife around Willow’s home in Montana is stressed and venturing closer to humans due to climate change, habitat loss, and drought, as detailed in several chapters. At the same time, Willow faces another challenge: her father is dating again, and Willow has little in common with his girlfriend’s daughter, Priscilla, an indoorsy ballet dancer. When the foursome goes camping just as an arsonist sets a forest fire, Willow must use her gift to save animals and humans. A Jungian psychotherapist, Myslik-McFadden (Bad Gramma, 2013, etc.) subtly draws on symbolism and archetypes, such as that of the wounded healer, to help make sense of Willow’s ability; it’s significant that she dislikes but accepts her blind eye and scar, refusing an eyepatch or plastic surgery. At the same time, Willow remains a believable teenage girl. She makes mistakes, gets jealous, and develops a crush on a boy at school. Other characters are similarly three-dimensional; Willow’s father loves her, but he can be insensitive and critical. This realism helps ground the story, just as animal telepathy is grounded by Myslik-McFadden’s attention to the entire ecosystem. Willow can’t save every animal or turn climate change around, but the novel ends on a hopeful note.
Sensitive, well balanced, and psychologically acute, with an appealing animal-communication motif.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5148-7594-0
Page Count: 236
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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