For a more enjoyable spin across similar territory (though without the petty crime), try Shannon Hale’s The Storybook of...
When 12-year-old Gilly, eldest daughter of the shoemaker, is caught with stolen goods, she is sent to Fairy Tale Reform School for rehabilitation.
Life as a commoner in Enchantasia, a fairy-tale kingdom ruled over by Cinderella, Snow White, Rose (aka Sleeping Beauty) and Rapunzel, is hardly ideal. Poverty, crime and social unrest plague this less-than-magical land. Gilly’s father, inventor of Cinderella’s famous glass slipper, struggles to feed his large family. Gilly’s thievery is both her attempt to help her family as well as her revenge against the unfair caste system. A three-strike rule finds her arrested and sentenced to reform school. However, mysterious events during Gilly’s incarceration reveal that life in Enchantasia might be a lot less magical than even she thought. With the Evil Queen and the Wolf for teachers and trolls, mermaids and fairies for friends, Gilly’s rehabilitation promises to be exciting. Unfortunately, in spite of a magical cast of characters and some genuinely sweet moments among Gilly and her friends and family, this fractured fairy tale falls flat. Hobbled by a stale premise, one-dimensional characters and forced dialogue, this first installment in a new series is less than promising.
For a more enjoyable spin across similar territory (though without the petty crime), try Shannon Hale’s The Storybook of Legends (2013) instead. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4926-0156-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Fun middle school antics with a dollop of light magic and considerations of loyalty.
Heidi Heckelbeck is a witch and first-year student at Broomfield Academy, a boarding school that educates magical and nonmagical kids alike.
Heidi’s an ordinary tween, concerned with clothes, friendships, crushes (currently on Nick Lee, who’s not in the School of Magic), and her tenuous relationship with Melanie, her often-mean “broommate” and acquaintance from home. She’s also excited about learning witchcraft and is pleased to receive private magic lessons from Mrs. Kettledrum. Her teacher instructs her in calming meditation techniques as a prelude to mind-reading and emergency spells. Sometimes Heidi writes spells enthusiastically but incorrectly, however, with unintended consequences. She also faces a difficult decision about revealing a big secret about new friend Isabelle. Heidi pushes the boundaries of appropriate behavior (both in the real world and the magical one) and must think hard about self-discipline. Breezy and fun, this volume will satisfy devotees who have enjoyed following this engaging character since she was in elementary school, with each entry slowly but surely moving up in complexity as Heidi grows and becomes a little more serious. Her latest adventures are delivered with the usual humorous grayscale illustrations and fonts that vary in size and style, moving the story along quickly. The volume will entice new fans, welcome reluctant readers, and please those who have been awaiting Heidi’s latest exploits. Isabelle reads Black; other central characters are cued white.
Fun middle school antics with a dollop of light magic and considerations of loyalty. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781665948340
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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