A whimsical and magical novel that celebrates the magic of storytelling.
A young girl fights against dastardly influences to save her town in Maier’s debut middle-grade novel.
Ten-year-old Petralina Bland has just returned to the town of Crumbly Thickets, where she’s lived with her grandparents ever since her parents split up. After spending the summer with her cousins in the busy city, Petralina is excited to be back home, though lots of things about the place now seem strange: The popular Doily’s Sweetshop is boarded up, her precious Thickets have been excavated, and most of the villagers seem to be addicted to the peculiar-flavored chocolates that a new business is handing out for free. This new business—a supermarket called Scrimpers Megadrome—is run by the sinister Mr. De Limon and his strange twin children, and their growing influence seems to threaten to consume the town. The family soon takes control of the local primary school, replacing storytime with mind-numbing “Console Skills.” When the townspeople start burning books, Petralina manages to rescue a duffel bag’s worth and hides them. Petralina also befriends 17-year-old bakery worker Alec, whose vivid tales seem almost magical. As Crumbly Thickets falls further under the spell of the De Limons, Petralina must use the power of stories to help her save the town before it’s lost forever. Maier’s writing in this charming exercise in magical realism is wonderfully descriptive; one teacher is described as “the kind of person who, being intimidated by a plate of bacon and eggs, might simply lick a few stamps for breakfast instead.” The jokes throughout are endearingly silly and well suited to a middle-grade audience: “There’s the Cat Stroking Club on Tuesdays—if you haven’t got a cat of your own, please bring someone else’s.” The novel is slightly overlong and overstuffed, though some elements (such as Petralina’s family issues) could use further development. Ultimately, Maier offers an imaginative adventure that will get kids excited to read.
A whimsical and magical novel that celebrates the magic of storytelling.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2024
ISBN: 9781835633120
Page Count: 408
Publisher: New Generation Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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