Despite some contradictory plot details, a message of empathy is delivered with quirky charm.
In Allen’s chapter book, a little basement-dwelling monster hopes to find acceptance in the human world.
There’s a secret in the basement of the 150-year-old Marymount Mansion, and only the septuagenarian owner, Celeste, knows what it is: families of monsters live there. Celeste is their friend, keeping them safe from discovery (they do attend her Halloween party every year, since her guests assume they’re wearing costumes). But 8-year-old monster Toby, who has “furry green skin” and smells like cotton candy, wants to see more of the world outside the basement. (Goodwin’s cartoony black-and-white spot illustrations accompany the text here and there, with Toby depicted as a bucket-shaped figure with froggy eyes and skinny legs.) There are a few inconsistencies in its messaging, but this fantasy story offers a fanciful and compassionate approach to being “different.” Young readers will root for the courageous Toby as curiosity about the human world drives his quest to be free to be himself there, convinced that “we should be able to get along with others who aren’t exactly like us.” His courage and curiosity lead to him befriending a huge, lonely monster, so different that he even scares other monsters, and to an outing trick-or-treating and fitting in with costumed human kids. The narrative balances Toby’s good experiences with a scary encounter with a teenage human bully, followed by the little monster’s confidence-building realization that humans have many differences, too, from skin colors to the glasses some of them wear and the way they dress. Celeste is a bit problematic in her role as the monsters’ affectionate protector: She brings them cookies, considers them family, and attends their weddings and births, yet leaves their basement home “dark and dank” and short on “elbow room” (elsewhere, the basement is inconsistently described as big enough to have areas that Toby’s family never explored, including the lair of Toby’s sad, giant monster friend).
Despite some contradictory plot details, a message of empathy is delivered with quirky charm.Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9780996102940
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Asd Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2023
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
An engaging, puzzle-centered page-turner.
A tween enters into a high-stakes and high-rewards hunt for a life-changing treasure.
After years of financial instability, and moving from place to place with her mother, Everly “Benny” Benedict, 12, is poised to come into a large inheritance from her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Evelyn “Sparrow” Terry of Greenport, Long Island—but only if Benny can solve Evelyn’s riddles and find a mysterious island within the deadline, less than two weeks away. If she fails, Benny will lose the entire estate. As the pressure mounts, Benny and her newly acquired Greenport friends, Zara and Ryan, unravel clues tied to a rare Blood Orange Moon, a deadly 1825 Yellow Fever epidemic, and family connections spanning generations; in addition, events from Evelyn’s timeline shed light on the present day. Incorporating text messages, the young detectives’ notes, and 19th-century newspaper articles, journal entries, and letters, Calonita deftly transitions between the past and the present. Greenport is rich in magical elements that gradually play a larger and larger role in the plot, setting this book apart from other inheritance treasure-hunt stories and creating an added layer of interest. Severe weather phenomena and other challenges contribute to the building tension. The worldbuilding contains several unexplained developments, and the book ends on a frustratingly major cliffhanger, but this series opener is clearly setting up for a sequel in which more answers will hopefully be forthcoming. Main characters are cued white.
An engaging, puzzle-centered page-turner. (Fantasy adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781728277035
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
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