A heartfelt follow-up, perfect for readers in need of a bit of courage.
Two young witches have an adventurous spring break at a magical camp.
Kyana Turner returns after saving Park Row Magick Academy from closure in A Taste of Magic (2022). Now the school is in the position to create a thriving environment for her local magical community. However, the responsibility seemingly falls to Kyana to keep the other students engaged and connected—and she’s feeling the pressure. Ashley Martinez, Kyana’s best friend, is an introvert who prefers the solitude of being in the Between Realms, and she’s not thrilled when her mom suggests yet another spring break spent at Enrichment Camp. That is, until she hears that a famous inventor who specializes in Availables—magical creatures that tether to inanimate objects in our realm—will be there. After Kyana is mysteriously attacked by an Available, leaving her susceptible to drastic emotional mood swings, the girls decide that attending camp might help them find a cure. However, their plans change when the portals unexpectedly close, trapping all the campers on the island. The brilliant young protagonists work together with their allies to figure out what’s happening, uncovering a dastardly plot along the way. Told in Ashley’s and Kyana’s dual perspectives, the book immerses readers in a richly whimsical magical world. The writing is straightforward and accessible yet engaging enough to keep readers interested. The diverse cast of characters who make up the Magick community further reinforce themes of allyship and recognizing different strengths.
A heartfelt follow-up, perfect for readers in need of a bit of courage. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781547606740
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
Funny and endearing, though incomplete characterizations provoke questions.
An isolated class of misfits and a teacher on the edge of retirement are paired together for a year of (supposed) failure.
Zachary Kermit, a 55-year-old teacher, has been haunted for the last 27 years by a student cheating scandal that has earned him the derision of his colleagues and killed his teaching spirit. So when he is assigned to teach the Self-Contained Special Eighth-Grade Class—a dumping ground for “the Unteachables,” students with “behavior issues, learning problems, juvenile delinquents”—he is unfazed, as he is only a year away from early retirement. His relationship with his seven students—diverse in temperament, circumstance, and ability—will be one of “uncomfortable roommates” until June. But when Mr. Kermit unexpectedly stands up for a student, the kids of SCS-8 notice his sense of “justice and fairness.” Mr. Kermit finds he may even care a little about them, and they start to care back in their own way, turning a corner and bringing along a few ghosts from Mr. Kermit’s past. Writing in the alternating voices of Mr. Kermit, most of his students, and two administrators, Korman spins a narrative of redemption and belief in exceeding self-expectations. Naming conventions indicate characters of different ethnic backgrounds, but the book subscribes to a white default. The two students who do not narrate may be students of color, and their characterizations subtly—though arguably inadequately—demonstrate the danger of preconceptions.
Funny and endearing, though incomplete characterizations provoke questions. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-256388-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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