Once Dream of Night was a champion racehorse, but by the time Jess DiLima gets him he’s nearly dead from starvation and pneumonia, and his thin hide is covered in scars. Twelve-year-old Shiloh is scarred, too, both from physical abuse and from the emotional withering of years in foster care. Jess doesn’t feel up to the challenge of either one of them, but she knows that she may represent their last chance. Henson’s story unfolds in a tight, third-person, present-tense narration that shifts its focus among the three principals: Jess, Shiloh and Night. Her novel, like her characters, shimmers with anger and hope. She doesn’t pull her punches—the scenes and flashbacks of abuse are realistically graphic—but she also never lets the details overwhelm the narrative, always offering the possibility of redemption. The author understands, too, that victory is not necessarily a blue ribbon won or a family reunited—sometimes it’s just the quiet triumph of a girl confidently brushing a horse in a stall. Another impressive book by the author of Here’s How I See It—Here’s How It Is (2009). (Fiction. 8-14)
Pub Date: May 4, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-4899-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic.
A middle schooler discovers both up and down sides to being able to foretell the future.
Members of the Cleary clan in alternating generations have always been granted predictive powers on their 4,444th day of life, and Celia has been eagerly looking forward to her first vision—until, that is, it comes and reveals that cute, quiet classmate Jeffrey is slated to die in a hit-and-run. Weighing her horror against her wise Grammy’s warnings that fate is inexorable, she contrives a way to head off the accident…only to foresee another fatal mishap in his future. And another. By the time she’s saved his life five times in a row, she’s not only exhausted, but crushing on the hapless lad. (As, unsurprisingly, he is on her.) Reintgen generally keeps the tone of his series opener light, so even after Celia discovers that there’s ultimately a tragic price for her intervention, the ensuing funeral service is marked by as much laughter as sorrow. The author surrounds his frantic but good-hearted protagonist with a particularly sturdy supporting cast that includes gratifyingly cooperative friends as well as her Grammy and loving, if nonmagical, mom. There don’t seem to be many Cleary men around; perhaps that and certain other curious elements, like a chart listing particular Cleary specialties with names such as Dreamwalker and Grimdark, will be addressed in future entries. Main characters read as White.
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-357-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
This quiet, heartfelt story will stay with readers long after the tide goes out.
What begins as an octopus rescue mission becomes a summer of life-changing friendship and self-discovery.
Max is tired of being Little Max, always in the shadow of Big Max, his glad-handing, big-shot city council member father. He’s ready for a fresh start, spending the summer with his mom on her graduate school research trip. They’re headed to a place on the Gulf Coast of Texas called Lafitte Island, which for Max feels full of possibility. During his first exploration of the island, Max comes across a beached octopus on the shore, barely alive. His quick thinking and empathetic determination set the course for his entire summer. Max enlists Emmett, a YouTuber with a channel called “Stuff I Found on the Beach,” for help with octopus transport. Emmett leads him to Ollie Mae and her family, who run a vet clinic on the island. But Max’s bond with his octopus—whom Ollie Mae names Ursula after the sea witch from The Little Mermaid—becomes the most transformative part of his summer. As he cares for Ursula at the clinic, he also figures out how to care for himself—learning to speak up, be himself, and let go. Full of heart, a dash of science, and plenty of octopus antics, this story is a tender, bittersweet reminder that growth can come from the most unexpected of places. Primary characters present white.
This quiet, heartfelt story will stay with readers long after the tide goes out. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593898390
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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