Succinct and marvelously told; a middle-grade fantasy for everyone.
A would-be hero sets off on a quest to prove himself worthy in this middle-grade fantasy.
Twelve-year-old Hobart Septavious of Finnagen wants to be a knight. But he must be nominated to the King’s School for the Education of Future Knights by May Day or he’ll have surpassed the age limit to enroll. He leaves the family’s pig farm determined to perform heroic feats, and his mother says, “Have fun playing dragon slayer.” Hobart visits Mildred the Wise, who points him toward the last local dragon at Castle Flamegon. She also gives him an error-ridden almanac, an endless bag of turnips, a spool of unbreakable string, and Albert the talking horse. Though receiving a sword would have been nice, Hobart hits the road and soon encounters a wolf. After inadvertently chasing the beast away, he finds that he’s saved a boy named Tate of Fair Oaks. The boy joins Hobart’s quest to repay him, and eventually, they’re challenged by an elderly knight named Sir Danton of Mortico. A girl named Hero arrives and explains, “My grandfather gets confused.” When Sir Danton believes himself “bested,” he offers Hobart his sword, Guardian. Hero also joins the quest to face the dragon, which will be like nothing the teens have imagined. Mullaly’s middle-grade fantasy will effortlessly charm readers both young and old. Hobart has a stutter and is bullied by Lord Finnegan’s nephew, William the Tormentor, yet he chases his dream of knighthood. Clean prose bolsters dry humor, like when Hobart isn’t sure that having a talking horse is a good idea: “By the end of the day, I was sure. It was a bad thing.” During the adventure, each of Mildred’s seemingly useless gifts proves urgently needed in a particular situation, like the turnip bag that feeds starving villagers. One character tells the adventurers, “When we are young, we think we are immortal, but the years will pass...too quickly.” Mullaly’s message that compassion should supersede personal gain unfolds subtly and beautifully. Her cast exits the stage quickly, sure to make fans crave more.
Succinct and marvelously told; a middle-grade fantasy for everyone.Pub Date: July 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73-647737-3
Page Count: 94
Publisher: Favored Oak Press
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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