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
A thoughtful, humorous, community-centered exploration of identity and Buddhism.
Stories of Buddha’s past lives help a young boy “find [himself] in the moment.”
Binh and his siblings, who are of Vietnamese descent, can’t believe they’re spending the weekend at a silent meditation retreat. Binh would rather play his Game Boy so he doesn’t have to meditate and inevitably think about the bullies at school. It is only when Sister Peace tells stories about the Buddha and his past life that Binh is able to imagine himself entering a video game–inspired world and thus process his feelings of shame, isolation, and anger. With each Jataka tale, Binh’s awareness expands, and so, too, does his ability to be present for and helpful to those around him. A welcome addition to the handful of middle-grade stories featuring Buddhist protagonists, this exploration of identity and Buddhist principles will find an audience with young readers who love Raina Telgemeier but aren’t quite ready to level up to the complexity and nuance of Gene Luen Yang’s epic American Born Chinese (2006). The video game elements are compelling, although they understandably diminish as the story progresses and the protagonist’s inner life grows. Warm fall colors and luscious black lines anchor the story as it transitions among flashbacks, stories, and the present day. Filled with talking animals, the parables can be a little heavy-handed, but the witty banter between Binh and the narrator during fantasy sequences provides levity. (This review was updated for accuracy.)
A thoughtful, humorous, community-centered exploration of identity and Buddhism. (bibliography) (Graphic fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780759555488
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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