This princess book has a meaty plot and themes, but their execution is uneven.
A princess tries to run from her responsibilities.
It’s time for the big ceremony when Roxanne will be crowned as a Jewel Princess—she’ll be the Ruby Princess while her royal cousins each have their own jewel theme—and sent to reign in the Red Mountains. But she’s overwhelmed by the responsibility, prefers pants to dresses, and considers herself “a regular girl” who likes active, outdoor activities, so, she runs away. But the Dreadlings who serve Lord Bleak of Castle Dread lurk in the Mysterious Forest. Roxanne has a near miss with them before befriending a dragon and a pair of distressed gnomes from the Red Mountains (her soon-to-be-subjects). From them, Roxanne learns that an imposter is headed to the coronation. Roxanne divvies up her resources to get the gnomes to safety and to make her way back to the palace herself to stop Lord Bleak’s fake princess from being crowned. She arrives just in time to take her true place and capture the imposter. Though Roxanne is heroic and becomes confident in her leadership abilities, the princess-versus-tomboy dichotomy is a little tired and also muddled in execution. Roxanne has light-brown skin while her fellow Jewel Princesses (whose own star turns publish simultaneously) include a white girl, a black girl, and another girl of color; the kingdom’s most important wizard is dark skinned.
This princess book has a meaty plot and themes, but their execution is uneven. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-56567-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Deliberately inspirational and tinged with nostalgia, this will please fans but may strike others as overly idealistic.
Veteran picture-book creator Polacco tells another story from her childhood that celebrates the importance of staying true to one’s own interests and values.
After years of spending summers with her father and grandmother, narrator Trisha is excited to be spending the school year in Michigan with them. Unexpectedly abandoned by her summertime friends, Trisha quickly connects with fellow outsiders Thom and Ravanne, who may be familiar to readers from Polacco’s The Junkyard Wonders (2010). Throughout the school year, the three enjoy activities together and do their best to avoid school bully Billy. While a physical confrontation between Thom (aka “Sissy Boy”) and Billy does come, so does an opportunity for Thom to defy convention and share his talent with the community. Loosely sketched watercolor illustrations place the story in the middle of the last century, with somewhat old-fashioned clothing and an apparently all-White community. Trisha and her classmates appear to be what today would be called middle schoolers; a reference to something Trisha and her mom did when she was “only eight” suggests that several years have passed since that time. As usual, the lengthy first-person narrative is cozily conversational but includes some challenging vocabulary (textiles, lackeys, foretold). The author’s note provides a brief update about her friends’ careers and encourages readers to embrace their own differences. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Deliberately inspirational and tinged with nostalgia, this will please fans but may strike others as overly idealistic. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2622-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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