A tough read, this story of tragedy, magic, and sisterhood does proffer some rewards for readers who stick with it.
Four sisters escape a difficult home life by spending more and more time in their magical closets.
Narrated in first person by 11-year-old Silly, this story is saturated with the deep sadness felt by four daughters whose mother is drinking, depressed, and unpredictably cruel to them. When the sisters discover that their closets are gateways to magical worlds, they begin to use them to seek solace and to try to learn about the source of their mother’s problems. When one sister, Marla, becomes trapped inside a closet, her sisters save her by convincing her of the wonders she’s missing in the real world beyond the closet door. There are many lessons here: that magic exists in both the mysterious and the mundane, that the same magic can heal or hurt, and that it is precisely when trouble and grief make us want to isolate ourselves that we most need to seek the comfort and the strength of those who care about us. The plot, while plagued by some loose ends, is compelling, and the sisters are distinctive and interesting characters. It is the sadness, though, that takes center stage. There is hope here as well, but it feels small and almost peripheral.
A tough read, this story of tragedy, magic, and sisterhood does proffer some rewards for readers who stick with it. (Magical realism. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-235271-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Working in the grand tradition of children’s fantasy, Wexler’s off to a promising start.
Being a Reader comes with significant challenges in this fantasy filled with ever-changing library stacks, enchanted books and talking cats.
Late one night, 12-year-old Alice Creighton stumbles upon her father in conversation with a threatening fairy. Next thing she knows, her dad is off to Buenos Aires on a steamer ship that mysteriously goes down in a freak storm. Now an orphan, she is sent to live with her uncle Jerry, aka Geryon, who happens to have an unusual and off-limits library that harbors a coveted book and creatures that may explain what really happened to Mr. Creighton. There, she meets the boy Isaac, a Reader, who has the power to enter books and interact with the creatures within them, and discovers that she’s a Reader, too. She is also given the opportunity to apprentice herself to Geryon, which she takes in a desperate effort to find her father. Alice proves to be an active and intelligent heroine who adeptly pulls compatriot and rival Isaac out of more than one potentially fatal challenge. Vaguely reminiscent of Harry Potter, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Inkheart all rolled into one, it’s good fun, if a tad light on character transformation and sagging a bit in the middle.
Working in the grand tradition of children’s fantasy, Wexler’s off to a promising start. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: April 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3975-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Kathy Dawson/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An engaging and heartfelt presentation that never whitewashes the difficult time and situation as Little Man comes of age.
Little Man, whose real name isn’t revealed until the conclusion, stutters badly, a situation that presents new difficulties now that he’s taken over his friend’s paper route for a month.
Debut author Vawter depicts a harshly segregated 1959 Memphis, and since the tale is highly autobiographical, he captures a full and realistic flavor of the time. Little Man, as he’s called by his brave, black live-in housekeeper, Mam, has a few less-than-effective strategies that he employs to control his stutter, but it dominates his life nonetheless. Along the paper route, he encounters three fully rounded characters who make their mark on the story: Mrs. Worthington, a young, attractive and abused wife who drinks too much and awakens in Little Man a new, albeit very safe, interest in the opposite sex; Mr. Spiro, a widely read retired seaman who offers Little Man heartfelt advice and insightful support; and scary junkman Ara T, who steals Little Man’s knife and evolves into a looming threat both to the boy and Mam. Carefully crafted language, authenticity of setting and quirky characters that ring fully true all combine to make this a worthwhile read. Although Little Man’s stutter holds up dialogue, that annoyance also powerfully reflects its stultifying impact on his life.
An engaging and heartfelt presentation that never whitewashes the difficult time and situation as Little Man comes of age. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-385-74244-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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