Jarring, disconnected, even at times nonsensical. (Science fiction. 10-14)
Zanna Mayfield’s life changes when she’s accepted to the St. Pommeroy’s School for Gifted Children.
After a bizarre false start, the studious white girl is visited by a Dr. Mumble, who reveals to her that she has the power to manipulate the laws of the universe, and in order to learn about them, she must commit to attending St. Pommeroy’s, which is located on a secret island. Before she departs for it, a mysterious woman appears in Zanna’s bedroom and asks her to sign a contract to never attend St. Pommeroy’s; Zanna refuses. Mysteriously, everyone at the school knows that Zanna has been visited by this woman; perhaps it’s a metallurgical illusion? Along with navigating this strange, new school, Zanna must worry about why she, of all of the students, has been chosen by this seemingly nefarious entity. From the start, the story jumps into dizzying discussions of physics, metallurgy, and other sciences at this secret school. St. Pommeroy’s feels an awful lot like Hogwarts, with its exciting course work and eccentric instructors (unfortunately, some descriptions move beyond eccentricities into stereotype). The slow pace takes an unexpected metaphysical turn that leads Zanna to a twist that’s closer to home than she could have imagined—and that leads readers into what feels like a completely different book. The scientific details that explain the twist may have the potential to excite a physicist, but they leave lay readers juggling science and metaphysics as if the book doesn’t know its audience.
Jarring, disconnected, even at times nonsensical. (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63163-168-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high...
Two parallel stories, one of a Syrian boy from Aleppo fleeing war, and another of a white American boy, son of a NATO contractor, dealing with the challenges of growing up, intersect at a house in Brussels.
Ahmed lost his father while crossing the Mediterranean. Alone and broke in Europe, he takes things into his own hands to get to safety but ends up having to hide in the basement of a residential house. After months of hiding, he is discovered by Max, a boy of similar age and parallel high integrity and courage, who is experiencing his own set of troubles learning a new language, moving to a new country, and being teased at school. In an unexpected turn of events, the two boys and their new friends Farah, a Muslim Belgian girl, and Oscar, a white Belgian boy, successfully scheme for Ahmed to go to school while he remains in hiding the rest of the time. What is at stake for Ahmed is immense, and so is the risk to everyone involved. Marsh invites art and history to motivate her protagonists, drawing parallels to gentiles who protected Jews fleeing Nazi terror and citing present-day political news. This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace.
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high values in the face of grave risk and succeed in drawing goodwill from others. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-30757-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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