A cheery fantasy about making new friends, exploring new places, and learning to get along with your sister.
The first, utterly adorable book in a new chapter-book series.
Addie Gibson, a white girl in Bishop’s illustrations, is bored and lonely in her new home. During an exploration of the forest behind her house, Addie meets a colorful butterfly named Sky Dance; however, Sky Dance isn’t an everyday, nonmagical butterfly—she’s a Wishing Wing, and the entrance to her home, Wishing Wing Grove, is on the other side of the woods. Sky Dance and the Wishing Wings need Addie’s help. Someone has placed a dark enchantment on New Blooms—Wishing Wings who have just emerged from their chrysalides. The effects of the enchantment are unclear, except that it seems to cause New Blooms to forget both who they are and their mission: to spread the lightness of mind that is intrinsic to the butterfly spirit. New Blooms must grant a wish by sunset on their first day out of the chrysalis, or they lose their magic forever. Sky Dance’s newly emerged sister, Shimmer Leaf, is one of the cursed and suffers from this mysterious butterfly amnesia. The solution is easy: Addie’s little sister, Clara, could use some cheering up; perhaps human girl and butterfly can help each other help their sisters. The story concludes with the promise of more adventure. Life lessons hover dangerously between subtle and pedantic, but they lean slightly closer toward less is more.
A cheery fantasy about making new friends, exploring new places, and learning to get along with your sister. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68119-491-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
Nine-year-old Hank Wolowitz fears the prospect of fourth grade at New York’s PS 166 without friends—his best friend Alexander just moved away (against his will). Sasha Chin from downstairs doesn’t really count as a friend, because she has three good girl friends she hangs out with half the time. When Hank reaches for a Lego piece under the sink of his family’s ice-cream shop, Big Round Pumpkin, and feels fur where it shouldn’t be and days later sees a waffle cone disappear bite by bite, he knows something is fishy. After Rootbeer, the neighbor’s dog, goes bananas barking at nothing in the hallway, Hank discovers he has accidentally saved an invisible, furry Bandapat named Inkling. Inkling, who loves squash and can be a stranger to the truth, feels he owes Hank a debt and must stick around until he can save Hank’s life. An opportunity for that just might arise, since bully Bruno Gillicut has decided that Hank annoys him and must pay by forking over his dessert at lunch every day. Jenkins’ possible series starter (given the hints at the close) is a gently humorous and nicely realistic (with the obvious exception of the invisible Peruvian Bandapat) tale about coping with the loss of a lifelong best friend. (The book will feature Bliss’ signature black-and-white illustrations, but no art was available at the time of review.) Anyone who who has ever had an imaginary friend will appreciate sassy Inkling (who’s invisible—not imaginary). (Fantasy. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-180220-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
Despite missteps, this satisfying follow-up will leave readers hoping for more magical adventures with lovable Jax and...
Jaxon and his friends deal with the fallout from the theft of one of the baby dragons in his charge.
As this sequel to Dragons in a Bag (2018) opens, Kavita, the titular dragon thief, introduces elderly Aunty to stolen baby dragon Mo. Thankfully, Aunty knows someone in Queens who can help return Mo to the realm of magic. Meanwhile, and in alternating first-person chapters, Jax is trying to find Kavi and Mo, as Mo’s siblings have grown ill as a result of the separation, as has Ma, Jax’s magical mentor and grandmother figure. Jax again teams up with his best friend and Kavi’s older brother, Vik. A third is added to their crew with “huge” Kenny, “the biggest kid in [their] class.” (Unfortunately, much is made of Kenny’s size, which feels gratuitous and unkind.) Eventually the trio finds Kavi, Aunty, and Mo, who’ve been abducted by a magical con artist. All’s well that ends well when Sis, the powerful guardian of the magic realm, shows up, but readers may wonder why the narrative decides to grapple with her choice not to intervene in injustice in our world. Her argument that human-caused problems are for humans to solve feels undeveloped, especially in the face of a massive injustice like the trans-Atlantic slave trade (mentioned during the climax and at no other point). Jax is black; Vik, Kavi, and Aunty are Indian American (though Aunty has African ancestry as well); and Kenny is white. The rest of the cast is diverse as well.
Despite missteps, this satisfying follow-up will leave readers hoping for more magical adventures with lovable Jax and company. (Urban fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7049-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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