An indispensable, encyclopedic resource for nature quests—mythological or otherwise.
A guide to watery habitats and their residents.
Definitively making the point that mermaids can be found anywhere there is water—even a little, or for a little while—Martin depicts dozens of types, each linked to a specific (real) locale and arranged by their favored habitats, from deep ocean abyssal zones to shallow desert pools, hot springs to swimming pools. Martin notes 11 species that dwell in wetlands alone, including residents of both fresh and saltwater marshes as well as mangrove swamps, bayous, baygall bogs, freezing wetlands, and ciénagas. There are male merfolk, the author admits, but she sticks to the feminine term. To assist young nature detectives, each mermaid is posed in a natural setting along with selected specimens of wildlife that share the same habitat. As mermaids are great mimics, they tend to resemble their wild companions, and so along with displaying individual adornments and embellishments, they are each as distinctive looking as the accurately rendered fish, marine mammals, reptiles, and other not-so-mythical creatures on view. Moreover, enlightening discussions of mermaid behaviors and environmental concerns mingle with general questions and activities suitable for any encounters with nature. Readers will come away uniquely prepared to find and identify these elusive creatures as well as the vast array of aquatic niches they (putatively) inhabit.
An indispensable, encyclopedic resource for nature quests—mythological or otherwise. (Fantasy. 11-15)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-79432-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Disappointingly fails to coalesce.
Sometimes the scariest thing is growing up.
Halloween-loving Esther, who is implied Ashkenazi Jewish and White, has had her bat mitzvah, which makes her an adult in religious terms, but she’s not ready to let go of trick-or-treating, even when her parents say otherwise. She’s also not ready to move on to high school or to do anything about her feelings for her best friend, Agustín, whose name may cue him as Latinx. But when the Queen of Halloween freezes their neighborhood in permanent Halloween, Esther finds herself reconsidering the value of forward momentum. Fink, of Welcome to Night Vale podcast fame, tries to do a lot with his creepy premise, but heavy-handed, meaning-laden passages—for example, digressions about neighbors as Esther and friends flee through yards chased by a villain flinging razor-bristling apples—slow the pace to a crawl and leave little for the reader to discover. Esther is joined in her fight against the Halloween Queen (who has sent the adults into a magical Dream and stolen the children) by Agustín; Korean American Christian bully Sasha; and seemingly boring, default White dentist Mr. Gabler, all of whom serve as foils for Esther’s emotional growth as she learns to see past the surface. This reads like two books uneasily combined: one about growing up and discovering people’s value and the other a horror story with a fantastic sense of place and some wonderfully shivery (and not entirely resolved) details.
Disappointingly fails to coalesce. (Horror. 11-14)Pub Date: July 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-302097-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Next to the exhilarating renditions of Rosemary Sutcliff (The Wanderings of Odysseus, 1996) and Geraldine McCaughrean...
An anemic retelling of the epic is paired to crabbed, ugly illustrations.
Breaking for occasional glimpses back to Penelope’s plight in Ithaca, Cross relates Odysseus’ travels in a linear narrative that begins with his departure for Troy but skips quickly over the war’s events to get to the sack of the city of the Cicones and events following. Along with being careless about continuity (Odysseus’ men are “mad with thirst” on one page and a few pages later swilling wine that they had all the time, for instance), the reteller’s language is inconsistent in tone. It is sprinkled with the requisite Homeric references to the “wine-dark sea” and Dawn’s rosy fingers but also breaks occasionally into a modern-sounding idiom: “ ‘What’s going on?’ Athene said, looking around at the rowdy suitors.” Packer decorates nearly every spread with either lacy figures silhouetted in black or gold or coarsely brushed paintings depicting crouching, contorted humans, gods and monsters with, generally, chalky skin, snaggled teeth, beer bellies or other disfigurements. The overall effect is grim, mannered and remote.
Next to the exhilarating renditions of Rosemary Sutcliff (The Wanderings of Odysseus, 1996) and Geraldine McCaughrean (Odysseus, 2004), this version makes bland reading, and the contorted art is, at best a poor match. (afterword, maps) (Illustrated classic. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4791-9
Page Count: 178
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
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