Broad appeal for readers who love exciting adventure, character development, and an exotic setting.
Loosely based on Persian legends, this illustrated children’s book relates how two heroes save their people from a Dark Queen.
In ancient Persia, the capital city of Shiraz is bustling even more than usual because the king’s firstborn son, Prince Ardashir, is about to marry. But enchantress Nisibis, queen of the Dark Angels, wants to rule the land and wed Prince Ardashir herself. When he refuses, she lays waste to the city and casts a spell that encases its people in crystal. Many years later in the small town of Fars, two young men, Daruosh and Rostam, have to leave town after Rostam unwisely attacks the provincial governor’s brother. Rostam, “built like a boulder,” acts without thinking, while his friend Daruosh is leaner, politer, smarter. It’s Daruosh’s idea to head north through the Land of Legend; since the forest is said to be cursed, few will follow. The two friends separate at a fork in the path, where a mysterious old man tells them they have different destinies to follow: Rostam must learn to use his head and control himself, while Daruosh must learn “to wrestle with monsters.” Each friend faces challenges, goes on adventures, and receives help from magical and human companions while learning more about himself, growing, and changing. The two reunite to make a last stand that could save the Land of Legend. Ghodrati (The Patriarch’s Family: A Novel of Heartbreak, Love and Redemption, 2012) grew up in Iran hearing Persian tales from his parents and grandparents that inspired this book. The result is a pleasing mix: enchanted creatures and people, including an animate shadow, among wise men and scary villains; a coming-of-age story against rousing battles and romance; and fairy-tale motifs like animal helpers and a prophesied hero. Ghodrati’s emphasis on his heroes’ needs to learn and grow is handled with humor and good psychological insight, and even the Dark Queen gets a generous final accounting. Page’s illustrations are richly colorful, like Persian miniatures, and contribute wonderfully to the storytelling.
Broad appeal for readers who love exciting adventure, character development, and an exotic setting.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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