Where would juvenile fantasy be without stringed instruments? Not in Dalemark, where Clennen the singer travels with his family through a repressive South, flamboyantly performing with his ancient "cwidder" but covertly passing information to would-be freedom fighters allied with the North. Then Clennen is killed; Ms unperturbed wife goes straight to her still waiting, aristocratic former suitor (a Southerner); the children, discovering their father's other identity as a notorious spy, prefer the road; and Kialin, a young passenger their father had taken into their cart, turns out to be a Northern prince fleeing abductors. With older brother Dagner soon arrested, it's up to Moril, eleven, and his sister Brid, to sing and play their way North to Kialin's freedom and their own, and it's on that eventful trip that Moril discovers both the powers that rest in his father's cwidder and his own ability to summon them. After a bit of hasty soul searching, Moril is able to put a pursuing Southern army to sleep with his music, to rout another with the illusion of advancing Northern forces, and, for a climax, to make the very mountains move, filling a pass through the Mils with rocky debris that buries the Southern leaders for good. Don't look for import—Moril's introspection is of the most cursory sort, and the good Earl (Kialin's father) on whose largesse his Northern subjects prosper makes a fairy tale indeed of the political goings on. But for those who prefer their adventures in imaginary realms, Jones' distinct personalities, agile plotting, and unobtrusive telling will more than suffice.
Pub Date: March 9, 1977
ISBN: 0192752790
Page Count: 198
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1977
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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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