A thoughtful and entertaining mix of fantasy and real-world problems.
Alongside changing friendships and her parents’ imminent separation, Cici learns that she is also a hada, or fairy.
Cici's 10th birthday isn't going quite how she imagined it. She won’t be celebrating with her family and her best friend, Mia, like always: her dad’s moved out, popular Hazel is throwing a hot-tub party on the same day, and she’s unexpectedly sprouted a pair of shimmering pink wings. Cici's visiting abuela tells her that she is, like many of the women in her family, a hada. She has newfound powers besides the wings: she also has the "fairy sight," which lets her see people and situations around her as they truly are (like seeing mean-girl Hazel and her followers as a flock of chickens). Cici learns she has only one day to decide whether she wants to remain a hada or to surrender her powers forever—but with all the confusion about her parents and friends swirling about her, what should she choose? This first volume in a series offers surprisingly more depth than the pastel-pink fairy images might indicate. Conjured with a pleasing, candy-colored palette and surrounded by evocatively expressive secondary characters, Latina Cici is wholly likable, and her real-life concerns play out well juxtaposed with her more whimsical ones.
A thoughtful and entertaining mix of fantasy and real-world problems. (Graphic fantasy. 7-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-6152-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
Beautiful, remarkable, amazing, and wonderful in every way.
Hector wants to be a deep-sea diver, just like his father and grandfather.
He has internalized all his grandfather’s tales, especially the story of the “rarest, whitest, and purist pearl in the world,” said to live on the seabed offshore near the Marina, their family business. But the greedy Amedeo Limonta has set up a competitive business that’s forced the Marina to close. When Hector turns 8, everything changes. On his very first dive, he discovers the magical Pearl and brings it home…and complications ensue. Hector heeds his memories and dreams of his grandfather and courageously makes it all right. Hector narrates his adventures in meticulously organized chapters, carefully introducing each character, providing detailed information about relationships and events, and sharing credit for his successes. At the conclusion Hector presents readers with vivid descriptions of his beloved village and its inhabitants. Sabatinelli provides Hector with a voice that soars with lilting, expressive language, losing nothing in Turner’s translation from Italian. Bruno’s intensely bright, sharply hued illustrations are a tour de force. A chart of semaphore flags and diagrams that detail the parts of a diving suit fill the opening pages, and those flags head each chapter. The sea is evoked with glorious dreamlike color and movement, and characters’ features and expressions immediately announce their nature, emotions, and quirks. All present White. Hector is wise, kind, and readers will take him to their hearts.
Beautiful, remarkable, amazing, and wonderful in every way. (Adventure. 6-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63655-006-0
Page Count: 92
Publisher: Red Comet Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
