A creative, often moving take on life cycles and tree science.
In Poilé’s middle-grade novel, an ash tree tells stories about its eventful life.
Weaving real-world information about nature’s life cycles into soulful storytelling, this debut work of middle-grade fiction, illustrated with black-and-white drawings by the author, features an unusual first-person narrator. Sebastian, an ash tree with deep thoughts who often speaks directly to the reader, relates tales from his earthy, seedpod origin to his deaths and continual rebirths over millennia. At its heart, the book is a surprising love story—Sebastian professes his devotion to Marion, a boulder “as old as the Earth itself” whose “timeless wisdom” shines through “the neon lichens and soft mosses” on her slate-gray surface. Sebastian describes what it’s like to be a tree, “photosynthesizing…in a particularly scrumptious batch of sunlight,” how snow on his branches feels “like a soft down blanket,” and what it’s like being tickled by the wind or having his itchy bark pleasurably scratched by the claws of squirrels. The book’s theme of the interconnectedness of life delves further into fantasy in the chapter “Magic in the Forest” as Marion, Sebastian, other trees, blackberry thickets, a water spring, and even the clouds work together to confuse a hunter and “spirit away” his prey—a deer. (Elsewhere, the inevitable outcome for prey in nature is addressed matter-of-factly.) Sebastian’s frequent philosophical waxings won’t be every reader’s cup of tea, but they are leavened by humor (such as a woodpecker’s hapless courting dance) and action. An invasion of tree-killing beetles involves a consultation with the “wood wide web”; extra nutrients thicken Sebastian’s bark for protection, and the life-or-death battle is won by an influx of toxic, microscopic fungi and helpful woodpeckers and wasps. The author makes the stakes clear with a chilling description of the beetles’ attack as they arrive with “teeny, sinister feet” scratching at Sebastian’s bark, looking for a “crevice in which to burrow.” In another story, Otis, a grumpy old oak tree, finds happiness in becoming a doting “grandpa” to fox kits. In an unexpected, touching epilogue, Sebastian and Marion’s love proves timeless.
A creative, often moving take on life cycles and tree science.Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781838757717
Page Count: 76
Publisher: Nightingale Books
Review Posted Online: April 11, 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
Eleven-year-old Griffin Bing is “the man with the plan.” If something needs doing, Griffin carefully plans a fix and his best friend Ben usually gets roped in as assistant. When the town council ignores his plan for a skate park on the grounds of the soon-to-be demolished Rockford House, Griffin plans a camp-out in the house. While there, he discovers a rare Babe Ruth baseball card. His family’s money worries are suddenly a thing of the past, until unscrupulous collectables dealer S. Wendell Palomino swindles him. Griffin and Ben plan to snatch the card back with a little help. Pet-lover Savannah whispers the blood-thirsty Doberman. Rock-climber “Pitch” takes care of scaling the house. Budding-actor Logan distracts the nosy neighbor. Computer-expert Melissa hacks Palomino’s e-mail and the house alarm. Little goes according to plan, but everything turns out all right in this improbable but fun romp by the prolific and always entertaining Korman. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-439-90344-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2008
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