Love (A Year Without Rain, 2000, etc.), as love often does, offers magic, high spirits, and adventure. When her story opens, Mouse is a scullery maid who is like the puppets she comes to know: “waiting in the dark of their trunk for something wondrous to happen.” Though advised to find a safe life “with a family of flesh and blood instead of wood and wool,” Mouse knows that she and the puppet master she befriends are meant to travel together, and she learns that the magic of the puppets is only transcended by the happiness they bring to others. Learning the art of puppetry but losing the puppeteer, Mouse must pursue her calling and find her true name alone. Later, she marvels that “a girl born with nothing at all, not even a name, could by sharp wits and hard work make a place in the world.” Colorful, lively, rhythmic language and a strong sense of medieval England make this a great read-aloud, a tale full of magic, deadly swordfights with thieves, and one young girl’s finding the courage to pursue her dream. The pace never falters, the characterizations are strong, and readers young and old will feel a bit more emboldened to meet the road as it rises up to meet them. A must-read in the grand storytelling tradition of Lloyd Alexander and Karen Cushman. (author’s note, bibliography) (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-84424-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2003
All aboooooard!
Mbalia takes the legacy of Pullman porters as inspiration for his latest fantasy world rooted in Black lore and traditions in this series opener.
Twelve-year-old Jax Freeman is an unwilling transplant to Chicago, sent away from his Raleigh, North Carolina, home by his parents after an incident lands him in the juvenile justice system. Just about as soon as he descends from the train, the weirdness starts: Inanimate objects speak to him, a strange old woman tells him his ancestors need him, and a terrifying creature tries to steal his skin. The strangeness keeps building, from the inspirational signs at his grandmother’s house that keep changing their messages to the class in…magic?…at DuSable Middle School. And what’s with the peculiar reactions he gets whenever people learn his surname? Pretty soon Jax is riding a magic train called the Shriek, charged with a mission to heal a feud among the five magical summoning families of Chicago—a mission that killed his great-great-grandfather. Jax spends most of the novel in a state of frustration as he tries to understand this new world, and readers may sympathize as they wait with him for other characters to dole out information. Mbalia has so much fun developing the world’s rules and inhabitants, though, that readers will probably not mind the adventure’s bagginess. Jax has a digressive narrative style that runs to broad comedy, but it’s his fundamental decency that really shines.
All aboooooard! (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781368064736
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Freedom Fire/Disney
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff.
When Rafa Alvarez and his two best friends decide to bring their favorite role-playing game into the real world, the consequences become just as real.
Between his father’s strict nature and his mother’s worsening illness, Cuban American Rafa has retreated into playing The Forgotten Age with Beto and Yesi. However, after they attempt to steal a slushie machine from the school cafeteria as part of the game, Dad decides Rafa would best learn his lesson by spending a month on a ranch…all the way across the country from Florida in New Mexico. When Rafa arrives at Rancho Espanto, or Terror Ranch, he forms new friendships with Korean American Jennie Kim, the librarian’s daughter, and Black barn manager Marcus Coleman, an army veteran. But when a strange man in a green sweater begins to appear, causing chaos for Rafa, the seemingly sedate ranch becomes the site of an exciting—and slightly terrifying—mystery to solve. Together, Rafa and Jennie work to uncover the strange (possibly paranormal) happenings at Rancho Espanto. While the mystery lies at the core of this novel, the exploration of themes of loss, grief, and identity add complexity. Readers familiar with these subjects will see themselves in Rafa as he struggles to come to terms with and understand his mother’s condition and build his own identity.
An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780374390433
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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