A sad, heartfelt quest tale that offers light at the end of the tunnel.
In Gunhus’ middle-grade novel, a grieving girl falls into a fantasy world and must find her way home while coming to terms with her loss.
Thirteen-year-old Caroline’s father died in a car accident just four weeks ago. He’d been out driving to buy some marshmallows for her, so she feels terrible guilt along with her grief. Thinking about her dad is too painful, so she decides to wall off her memories of him and ignore them. However, the future of who Caroline will become rests on how she copes with what happened—and that, in turn, will depend on how she reacts after she unexpectedly falls through a portal and into another world. This new world is strange and dangerous—tree-faring folk lie in wait to eat unwary travelers; the smoky, nightmarish Creach, which hunts those who have despair in their hearts—but the land is beautiful, too. Caroline meets Mordecai the Gand, an itinerant lute player whom she joins, hoping to find a way home and keep her sad memories at bay. The newness and sense of adventure bring Caroline to life again, but it comes at the cost of cutting herself off from her old existence. As her travels continue, she begins to suspect that Mordecai’s way of life, enticing though it is, may come at too high a price. Can Caroline help her new friend and, in doing so, find her own path back to herself? Gunhus writes in a style that will be easily accessible to middle-grade readers, yet it also has a profound simplicity that adults will appreciate. Caroline may be an embodiment of childhood grief, from a narrative standpoint, but she has a distinct personality of her own—empathic, forthright, willful—and those around her give this parable additional character. The plot seems straightforwardly aimed at readers in Caroline’s position, but it never feels strained; the pacing is gentle, though never too slow, and the dialogue rings true. Throughout, Gunhus captures poignant moments and images—such as that of the ethereal krybird—that will allow readers to recognize the author’s intent and find comfort along the way.
A sad, heartfelt quest tale that offers light at the end of the tunnel.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2021
ISBN: 979-8-59-303609-4
Page Count: 186
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid.
Black sixth-grader Jake Liston can only play one song on the piano. He can’t read music very well, and he can’t improvise. So how did Jake get accepted to the Music and Art Academy? He faked it.
Alongside an eclectic group of academy classmates, and with advice from his best friend, Jake tries to fit in at a school where things like garbage sculpting and writing art reviews of bird poop splatter are the norm. All is well until Jake discovers that the end-of-the-semester talent show is only two weeks away, and Jake is short one very important thing…talent. Or is he? It’s up to Jake to either find the talent that lies within or embarrass himself in front of the entire school. Light and humorous, with Knight’s illustrations adding to the fun, Jake’s story will likely appeal to many middle-grade readers, especially those who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. While the artsy antics may be over-the-top at times, this is a story about something that most preteens can relate to: the struggle to find your authentic self. And in a world filled with books about wanting to fit in with the athletically gifted supercliques, this novel unabashedly celebrates the artsy crowd in all of its quirky, creative glory.
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-52351-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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