Beautifully rendered and magical. (Fantasy. 8-12)
A young foxling must navigate both the dangerous world of humans and the mysterious world of foxes as she searches for her missing family.
After chasing beetles and eating berries, Isla returns to her family’s den to find it on fire and overrun by an unfamiliar skulk. Isla barely escapes from the dangerous one-eyed vixen and her pack of branded foxes. Desperate to find shelter, she flees across the deathway (road), narrowly avoiding the manglers (cars). She must hide within the Snarl, the sprawling city of the furless ones. But Isla is naïve, and the city is a dark place filled with danger. So when Siffrin, a handsome fox, finds her and talks of magic and prophecy, she is understandably suspicious. But she is also desperate. Isla narrates her beautiful and dangerous world, forcing readers to see their own lives from the perspective of wild animals. A smooth highway is a death trap. Garden sheds are shelter. Annoying rodents are food. Vivid details, intriguing characters, and a riveting plot are smoothly executed in this exciting new series from one of the authors who write under the pseudonym of Erin Hunter.
Beautifully rendered and magical. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-69081-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A page-turner filled with charming rogues and expert plots.
In a world of Spellweavers and airships, a team comes together for a legendary heist.
Callan’s a gaffer—a con artist who pulls gaffs—in desperate need of money to escape his life of crime when he receives an offer that sounds too good to be true. Mysterious Mr. Solomon invites him to his mansion, where Callan’s introduced to the rest of a recruited team of kid criminals, including acrobatic knife thrower Meriel; Lachlan, who can procure any necessary supplies through his networks; Gareth, a researcher gifted with sleight of hand who stutters; and a cat burglar called Foxtail who wears a solid metal face mask and never speaks. The job? Stealing a magical jewel from not just any Spellweaver, but the High Weaver himself, a dangerous opponent who is already on guard following failed attempts to retrieve the Eye—and they only have three days to do it. Callan is an excellent narrator, constantly observing body language for tells that reveal secrets as the kids plan an elaborate, multistage operation to break into a seemingly unbreakable location, all with a life-changing financial prize on the line. He provides clarity through the twists, reveals, and the growing bonds of the team. By the end, interludes while the team plans give readers breathing space between increasingly weighty action sequences, leading to a cliffhanger. Most characters default to White; Foxtail has brown skin.
A page-turner filled with charming rogues and expert plots. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-32751-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
Laugh-out-loud fun with a wonderful cast of characters. A winner in every way.
Tank is a 2,580-pound rhinoceros living in the city zoo.
Unfortunately, his domicile is just on the other side of the right-field fence at the park where 12-year-old Nick Spirakis and his friends play their own variation of baseball. When Nick misses a ball that his nemesis, Pete, drives into Tank’s territory, Nick jumps in, grabs the ball, and makes it out just in time to avoid Tank’s charge. Nick narrates the tale, set in 1948 in a Midwestern city patterned after Milwaukee, describing his friends and activities as if he is in direct conversation with readers. Every Saturday is spent working in his father’s shop, wishing he could be playing ball instead. His father, a Greek immigrant, prizes hard work and ambition and is determined that Nick will own the shop someday. Everything changes when the new owner of the city’s minor league baseball team shakes everything up. There are promotions to lure everyone into the ballpark. Nick and his pals join a batboy-for-a-day contest that takes place on Saturdays, causing him to invent some rather convoluted lies to explain his absences from the shop. Themes (rivalries, family dynamics, feminism) and historical details (radio announcers, frozen custard) combine with lots of mishaps and misadventures, including another very public encounter with Tank. The story assumes a white default.
Laugh-out-loud fun with a wonderful cast of characters. A winner in every way. (acknowledgments, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0626-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
