Vanessa’s emotional roller coaster takes center stage, but there’s enough Nessie lore and presence to please the most...
An Irish teenager still grieving for her two-years-dead mother gets some unusual help in this decidedly unpredictable series opener.
A family vacation to Loch Ness at first delights Vanessa, who sees it as a chance to continue her mother’s cryptid research. But that delight changes to rage when it turns out that she’ll be staying at the very cottage where Lee, the woman her widowed father is seeing, grew up and is visiting. Flitcroft’s own research is clearly visible: in the historical notes that preface each chapter, in narrative discussions of theories regarding Nessie’s nature and in detailed descriptions of the Loch’s many natural beauties and distinctive local sites. A fainting spell and other odd incidents presage a dreamlike, life-changing climactic encounter between Vanessa and the fabled monster—which turns out to be far different from the prehistoric survivor common theories hold it (if it exists) to be. It also, astonishingly, serves to bring Vanessa and Lee closer together.
Vanessa’s emotional roller coaster takes center stage, but there’s enough Nessie lore and presence to please the most demanding cryptid fans. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: May 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-3481-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
A sensitive, moving debut.
When 11-year-old Eric Harper begins caring for an injured unicorn, his life is changed by the choices he makes, the relationships he forms, and the secrets he uncovers.
Eric lives with his family on land that has belonged to Harpers for generations and shares a special bond with his grandmother. One day, Eric spies what he thinks is a white deer but quickly realizes is a white unicorn. Filled with the “most amazing feeling of comfort and happiness and excitement,” Eric follows the lame unicorn to the farmhouse his ailing grandmother recently sold to Dr. Brancusi, a veterinarian, and her daughter, Allegra. (All three characters appear to be white.) Dr. Brancusi senses Eric’s concern and asks him to help her treat the unicorn. Discovering the unicorn is pregnant with twins, Dr. Brancusi warns Eric they must keep her hidden until the babies are born and hires him to assist. Eric’s affinity to the unicorn deepens, and when she’s threatened and runs away, he frantically searches. In the end, although Eric experiences loss, he gains a special family connection. Despite the presence of supernatural creatures, Eric’s quiet, genuine, first-person voice tells a realistic story of family love and discovering one’s true self, the presence of the unicorn and other magical creatures adding just a touch of whimsy to a story about very real emotions, revealed in Green’s black-and-white illustrations.
A sensitive, moving debut. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: July 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-76112-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Well-worn character types and plot devices may earn the first juvenile title in Amazon’s new line of imports a little traction with fans of Cornelia Funke’s mysteries. Quintessentially meek orphan Darius Dorian looks upon an assignment to shadow violin-maker Archibald Archinola for two weeks as a welcome chance to escape his orphanage roommate’s bullying. Then Darius discovers that plucking a certain old violin in Archinola’s shop causes any wound or illness to disappear. He steals the violin and is subsequently kidnapped by a doltish con man and his termagant mother, who force his assistance as they set themselves up as miracle healers. Along with a relentlessly two-dimensional bully, Reh trots in a supporting cast led by Darius’ new Asian friend Mey-Mey (“the outer corners of her eyes bend upwards like the corners of a smiling mouth”), sets up a budding romance between the stuffy-but-decent Archinola and a local jeweler and ultimately sends the con artists packing. Despite potentially confusing bits—from repeatedly-mentioned “brown patches” on Mey-Mey’s neck and hand that turn out to be calluses rather than birthmarks to everyone’s sudden and inexplicable loss of interest in the violin’s magic at the end—the tale’s steady predictability will keep less-demanding readers engaged. (Fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-61109-004-8
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
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