by Elizabeth Rudnick ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 6, 2015
This story tries to cater to both younger girls’ dreams of being a princess and older girls’ desires for both empowerment...
Back story is explored in this novel based on Disney’s Frozen.
Anna and Elsa are princesses who live in Arendelle. As youngsters they are close, but an accident causes Elsa, the elder, to distance herself from Anna. Anna has no memory of the accident and no one enlightens her, so she spends the next 14 years wondering why her sister avoids her. Meanwhile Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, who has 12 older, bullying brothers, plots to get his own kingdom. He finds his chance when he learns that Elsa will be crowned queen of Arendelle. Making his way there, he woos Anna by mistake. Anna, however, thinks she’s found true love. Told in alternating chapters and points of view between Hans and Anna, the story lurches along. Action scenes read as detached description, and there are more than a few plot inconsistencies. Hans, whose manipulative behavior is explained by his repressive upbringing—a promising premise—never gets beyond one-dimensional, and Anna, with her vapid, textureless voice, is trite at best. The story’s theme of true love (heads up, girls—true love means sacrifice) is a reinforcement of outdated stereotypes.
This story tries to cater to both younger girls’ dreams of being a princess and older girls’ desires for both empowerment and romance but misses the mark on both. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4847-3051-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Disney Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
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by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Dapo Adeola ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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PERSPECTIVES
by Scott Reintgen ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2022
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic.
A middle schooler discovers both up and down sides to being able to foretell the future.
Members of the Cleary clan in alternating generations have always been granted predictive powers on their 4,444th day of life, and Celia has been eagerly looking forward to her first vision—until, that is, it comes and reveals that cute, quiet classmate Jeffrey is slated to die in a hit-and-run. Weighing her horror against her wise Grammy’s warnings that fate is inexorable, she contrives a way to head off the accident…only to foresee another fatal mishap in his future. And another. By the time she’s saved his life five times in a row, she’s not only exhausted, but crushing on the hapless lad. (As, unsurprisingly, he is on her.) Reintgen generally keeps the tone of his series opener light, so even after Celia discovers that there’s ultimately a tragic price for her intervention, the ensuing funeral service is marked by as much laughter as sorrow. The author surrounds his frantic but good-hearted protagonist with a particularly sturdy supporting cast that includes gratifyingly cooperative friends as well as her Grammy and loving, if nonmagical, mom. There don’t seem to be many Cleary men around; perhaps that and certain other curious elements, like a chart listing particular Cleary specialties with names such as Dreamwalker and Grimdark, will be addressed in future entries. Main characters read as White.
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-357-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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