A professional storyteller, Lupton retells seven stories in his repertoire from Chile, Greenland, India, Nigeria, North America, Russia and Scotland. The attractive page composition has spaciously placed text that rings with a storyteller's voice, while the digital collages use decorative borders to reflect ethnic characteristics. The flat dimension of the people and animals are offset by the richness of patterns, and spot art generates momentum to lead readers to each story's end. Only one tale is broadly familiar, "The Strange Visitor," from Scotland ("Once upon a time, in a dark wood, there was a dark house"). In a Seneca tale, a grouchy Winter bullies children, stealing their clothing for warmth, until tricky old Summer scotches his antics. From India comes the tale of a brave blackbird who takes on the King, when his servants trap the blackbird's wife to provide music in his palace. In these and the rest, the essence of the stories lives up to the title. Storytellers will welcome this collection, with sources provided and personal provenance to back them up, and the title will attract kids. (includes CD) (Folklore. 8 & up)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84686-258-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rushed pacing and ineffective character development keep the story from living up to its potential.
A young boy gets lost and then kidnapped on a school trip to Jamaica’s Cockpit Country.
High schooler Kemar McBayne is looking forward to the school’s Ecology Club trip, along with his older brother, Oshane, and his younger brother, Tyrik, who’s only 10. His contentious relationship with his little brother causes trouble when an act of mischief on Tyrik’s part almost immediately leads to Kemar’s separation from the group. Unable to make his way back to them, he is later found and befriended by a stranger who turns out to have ulterior motives and holds Kemar hostage in the notoriously difficult-to-navigate Cockpit Country. Kemar decides to try to figure out a way to escape his captor and return to his family. At the same time, Oshane is determined to find his brother despite the others’ support, eventually enlisting the help of one of the region’s Maroon communities in order to track him down. Elm includes interesting, detailed aspects of Jamaican geography and culture that help readers visualize the characters’ experiences. However, this aspect of the novel is not enough to make up for jumpy pacing and storytelling that fails to build suspense or create attachment to the characters or plot. Characters are mostly Black, with some secondary characters mentioned as having pale skin and foreign accents.
Rushed pacing and ineffective character development keep the story from living up to its potential. (Adventure. 8-13)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-976-8267-31-3
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Blouse & Skirt Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
A fun and fast-moving adventure giddy with ideas.
This debut middle-grade fantasy sees a neglected orphan returning to the magical kingdom of her birth to face a rising evil.
Thirteen-year-old Caley Cross is the oldest child at the Gunch Home for Wayward Waifs, where she is worked like a slave and kept starved and impoverished. Caley gets on with her life as best she can, but if ever her anger is roused, she dies. Her deaths are only temporary—she revives shortly afterward—but they are linked to an innate power that causes dead animals to come alive. One day, Caley’s resurrections bring her to the attention of a metal-winged crow, whereupon she is rescued from the orphanage and taken to Erinath, a realm beyond Earth. Caley, it transpires, is the lost daughter of Queen Catherine, who disappeared shortly after the girl was born and is thought to have been killed by the nefarious Olpheist. Returned to Castle Erinath (which grows like a tree and often shifts its rooms about), Caley must adjust to her royal status—and to the relentless enmity of Ithica Blight, the vain and petty princess she’s supplanted as next in line to the throne. Ithica’s cruelties aside, there is trouble brewing in the kingdom. Castle Erinath is sickening and Olpheist is rumored to have broken free of his prison. Can Caley and her new friends sort truth from lies and keep him from laying hands on the Hadeon Drop, the ultimate source of creation and destruction? In this wildly imaginative series opener, Rosen’s storytelling overflows with creative fancy, so much so that the strong Harry Potter resonances (cruelly treated chosen one, boarding school social dynamic, Quidditch-like Equidium teams) become an unfortunate distraction from the boundless parade of whimsical characters and fantastical new material. Caley’s adventure begins in a breathless rush before settling down and building steadily to a somewhat abrupt end (and the promise of a sequel). The author’s prose is easy to read, with clear descriptions, age-appropriate dialogue, and plenty of humor. While Ithica is over-the-top and Caley and Olpheist are little distinguished from default heroes and villains, all the other characters ooze originality. All told, young readers will thrill at the sparkle of enchantment.
A fun and fast-moving adventure giddy with ideas.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68463-053-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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