A lighthearted and sometimes-profound tale of celestial beings and adolescent hardships.
In Orlowski’s middle-grade novella, a trio of guardian angels help a troubled boy find the right path.
As the story opens, Alvin, Lucy, and Everett’s boss in Heaven hands them a new assignment. These “kid angels,” who look like tweens, travel down to Earth, their robes and wings transforming into streetwear once they arrive. Their first stop is a sixth-grade basketball game, in which 12-year-old Jayden Zielinski is one of the players. Jayden has been a star on the court, but lately his skills have faltered. His parents’ divorce is a distraction, and his teammate Bryson mocking him for losing games and his father, the coach, never cutting him a break only makes matters worse. The angels are there to guide him, but they aim to do so without altering Jayden’s free will; for example, Lucy only uses her empathic ability sparingly to ease tension. The three angels pose as new enrollees at St. Clement School and make friends with Jayden; at some points, they invisibly watch over him. They await Jayden’s true test—a mysterious “storm” that he’ll soon be facing. Orlowski’s story, which features religious elements, tackles serious issues with a refreshing candidness. Alvin, for example, must resist the urge to wield his angelic powers against potential bullies, and Jayden makes a startling choice that has grave consequences. Nevertheless, the guardians’ humanlike qualities lighten the mood, as when Alvin and Lucy have “cloudball” fights. At the same time, Jayden is an appealing hero who’s even-tempered and regularly visits an elderly widower neighbor. The author’s breezy prose aids in maintaining a generally straightforward plot, and the angelic powers, which apparently include telepathy, aren’t overly complicated. The story ultimately builds to a few crucial turns, including a precarious situation involving Jayden and an unexpected but welcome moment involving one of the angels.
A lighthearted and sometimes-profound tale of celestial beings and adolescent hardships.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9798218514747
Page Count: 141
Publisher: Luminara Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
An uneven depiction of how antisemitism manifests on social media and in real life.
Jewish siblings Theo and Annie Kaplan grapple with antisemitism in their middle school and society at large.
When soccer-obsessed Theo’s favorite player makes an antisemitic statement at a press conference, the ensuing social media spiral sickens Theo. His teammates’ dismissive reactions further unsettle the eighth grader. When someone draws a swastika on Theo’s locker, he initially suppresses his feelings before eventually lashing out. Sixth grader Annie responds to the controversy by lying to the school librarian, whom she adores: She’s wracked with guilt but uses a library computer to create an illicit social media account and jump right into the fray, rebutting the bigotry she sees online. The boisterous, white-presenting Kaplan family incorporates meaningful Jewish practices into their regular lives, although the authors’ depictions evoke some Jewish tropes, like the overbearing grandmother who must be covertly managed by other family members. Theo and Annie’s university professor parents pressure their children to stand up for themselves without offering much meaningful support. Using multiple first-person perspectives—including that of new kid Gabe, who’s mourning the loss of his mother to Covid-19—the authors maintain a quick pace even as both siblings reach a point of crisis. Theo and Annie remain likable and realistic in their behavior, but the characterization unfortunately struggles to keep pace with the action, leaving some of the emotions feeling abrupt and unearned.
An uneven depiction of how antisemitism manifests on social media and in real life. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781467196215
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Arcadia Children's Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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