Imaginative but not fully realized.
The stipulations of her parents’ will send Bronte Mettlestone on a quest throughout Kingdoms and Empires.
When Bronte is just 10, her aunt Isabelle, with whom she lives, receives word that her parents—off gallivanting since Bronte’s birth—have been killed by pirates. Their will, bound with magic Faery cross-stitch, compels Bronte to deliver, in person, a gift to each of her other 10 aunts, spending at least three days with each one. She begins with Aunt Sue, who takes her to the elves’ Festival of Matchstick, where Bronte saves a baby from drowning and wins the Elvish Medal of Bravery. Next, Bronte frees Aunt Emma from wrongful imprisonment regarding the theft of a water sprite’s pepper grinder and saves the water sprite from death by drying. As her adventures go on, and on, Bronte learns more about the Whisperers, who spread Dark Magic from their kingdom, and the Spellbinders, who stopped it—and that she may have a closer relationship to all this magic than she knew. This is Moriarty’s first foray into middle-grade fiction, and it turns out to be about five aunt adventures too many—the never-ending whimsy becomes cloying, and the story stalls. Readers struggle to keep so many characters straight, let alone care about any of them, and without emotional connection there’s not enough incentive to keep reading. Most of the characters are described as light-skinned.
Imaginative but not fully realized. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-25584-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A proper, rousing entry with plenty of juice left in the tank for future exploits.
As if leering bad guy Witch Head and his huge Shadow Army aren’t daunting enough, Barb faces a tougher challenge—her mom.
With Barb Witch Head’s captive and the Shadow Blade back in his clutches to compel his army’s obedience (see Barb and the Ghost Blade, 2022), it looks like nothing can stop him from laying waste to the hapless hamlet of Bailiwick. Nothing? Enter Barb’s mother, Raven, leaping out of the Shadow Realm to the rescue with a mighty scream, an even mightier ax…and an infuriating determination to keep her daughter out of the action and safe from danger. Cue the mother-daughter clash! Barb, of course, can’t be held back for long and makes it to the climactic battle just in time to pull off a rescue of her own with an army of yetis on speed sleds (“YETIS! LET’S ROCK AND ROLL!”), not to mention a mystical Ghost Blade powerful enough to disarm Witch Head and persuade him to give up his evil ways. Now cue the massive dance party: “WE WON!” Despite plenty of explosive cartoon action and a colorful cast that includes toothy monsters of several sorts led by a spiky villain, Barb and Raven consistently steal the show—the latter topped by a magnificent purple mohawk and both sporting Wonder Woman tiaras and world-class glares.
A proper, rousing entry with plenty of juice left in the tank for future exploits. (Graphic adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2023
ISBN: 9781665914451
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sweet and full of heart.
When his mom lands a new job, Héctor Muñoz leaves San Francisco—and his best friends and beloved neighborhood—for a town near Sacramento.
The Mexican American 12-year-old starts Orangevale Middle School with optimism, hopeful that new friends will appreciate his flair for fashion and confident that he will find fellow musical theater–obsessed peers. His optimism wanes when he finds out there is no drama club or theater program; Ms. Heath, the head of school security, seems to have targeted him for harsh discipline; and the Table of Misfits, a ragtag group of outsiders, is the only place for him to sit at lunch. Matters get worse when Mike, a relentlessly homophobic bully, and his so-called Minions target Héctor. When a janitor’s closet magically appears whenever and wherever Héctor most needs to hide, he finds a respite from the bullying. The room not only offers him safety, it also connects him to other outsiders who find their ways there from their own schools when they need escape: Black and Chinese Juliana from South Carolina and Filipino and White Sal from Arizona. With compassion and humor, Oshiro creates a fantastical scenario that holds deeper implications for three outsiders who face struggles as queer and biracial youths. Reading this heartwarming blend of realistic fiction and fantasy, young people will appreciate Héctor’s brave and earnest quest for happiness and belonging set among a richly diverse cast of characters.
Sweet and full of heart. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300810-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
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