Levine reprises her earlier Never Land adventures, Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg (2005) and Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand (2007), in this latest installment and with her newest character, nine-year-old Gwendolyn, a direct descendant of Wendy of Peter Pan fame. Wearing the “kiss” necklace Peter gave Wendy, Gwendolyn’s very anxious for him to show up, sprinkle her with fairy dust and whisk her off to Never Land. But when Peter finally does materialize, she has no time for him and the Lost Boys. Indeed, she’s far more enchanted with Fairy Haven, Mother Dove and the Never Land fairies, especially Tinker Bell. Initially the fairies distrust Gwendolyn as a clumsy human, but when Fairy Haven is threatened by Kyto, an escaped dragon bent on flame-throwing, she plays a pivotal part. Fans of the Never Land stories will savor Gwendolyn, a thoroughly modern Wendy with a penchant for fairies, as well as Levine’s host of fully developed fairy characters as they engage in yet another harrowing quest. Christiana’s pastel watercolors feature fairy close-ups. (Fantasy. 6-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4231-0935-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
Nestled in a small trim size, this is an appealing and accessible genre blend.
A young chipmunk finds his path.
Twig lives with other rodents and small mammals on the Hill, which is made of discarded metal, plastic, and rubber. But this isn’t dystopic pollution—narrative descriptions are romantically pastoral, with golden sunlight, sweet-smelling earth, bird song, and bees in honeysuckle. Twig’s problem is school: he doesn’t merit being named master of any specialty (such as Weaver, Smelter, or Carver) at the upcoming Naming Ceremony and will be forced to work as a scorned, lowly Errand Runner. Venturing farther afield than he’s ever been—down a river he’s never seen—Twig finds an egg that hatches into a dragon in front of his eyes. Animal-fantasy purists will be as surprised as Twig himself. Sneaking the dragon home, Twig faces issues of integrity. The dragon’s fiery breath welds metal for Twig’s school projects, which is cheating; encaging a dragon is wrong. Freeing it, on the other hand, might free Twig, too. Twig’s friend Lily, a rabbit, stays by his side, and an enemy inexplicably turns friend. Textual platitudes are dull stuff but easy to skim over. What’s special are Cole’s black-and-white pencil drawings, earnest yet emotionally sharp. Many are full-bleed pages; some convey information that the text doesn’t, such as the fact that the Burrow of Confinement (the Hill’s prison) is an abandoned front-load washing machine.
Nestled in a small trim size, this is an appealing and accessible genre blend. (Fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-224546-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
For Where’s Waldo? graduates who are ready for heavy-duty irony.
In the full-color world of Super Happy Magic Forest, everyone recognizes what evil looks like…or do they?
This over-the-top happy place with fun, dancing, and picnics every day maintains its positive energy because of three Mystical Crystals of Life. After a two-sentence exposition, readers learn that someone has stolen the crystals, throwing all the forest inhabitants into panic. The five bravest warriors, including the reluctant Blossom, a unicorn, and Trevor, a red-and-white mushroom, go in search of the culprit, only to find in the end that their arduous journey has been for naught. In this debut picture book, Long fills nearly every page with details that will keep young readers engaged and interested: a penguin distraught over losing the frying pan it evidently uses as a cudgel, a gravestone bearing the name of one of the warriors, a headless skeleton preparing to decapitate the clueless Blossom. Some pages will remind readers of the Smurfs’ village—another superhappy place—while others seem to take a page from video game journeys, with many twists and turns. In the end, though, this book that exudes youthfulness and joy delivers quite a cynical message: sometimes those in whom we’ve placed the most trust can betray us. And when they do, they should expect a comeuppance sans mercy.
For Where’s Waldo? graduates who are ready for heavy-duty irony. (Picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-86059-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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