Deep myths and thrilling magic that will excite young readers.
This intense young-adult epic pits a group of teens against demons, deities and the forces of nature.
Vineyard’s (Setting Up Your Shots, 2008) first novel brims with mythic power without forgetting the contemporary world. After their new friend, Nayana, disappears into a strange portal with a dark abductor, lifelong friends Masha and Thomas stumble upon a mysterious land where great heroes and deities are preparing for a world-shaking battle. Behind them follows Vanya, Masha’s uncle, an expert lock picker (locks recur as a leitmotif in the novel). A host of friends and enemies awaits the transplants, from wanted-thief Samuel Windspring to Irkalla, queen of storms. The friends quickly find Nayana, but the way home remains unclear, their destinies now bound to the gathering war with the Asuras—the demonic forces of Yama, lord of death. The group searches for a living weapon known as a Deva, which can perhaps defeat the Asura threat, as they traverse exotic locales on their journey, including Baudas, city of knowledge, and the Meadow Infinite. Many of the beings they encounter emerge directly from Vedic mythology and the Mahabharata, the Hindu lore that serves as excellent source material for a story about epic clashes. For a relatively short novel, the plot’s velocity is dizzying at times, but Vineyard packs in an abundance of characters and background. With so much happening, he rarely has time to slow down and describe the magical world’s landscape. Occasional flashbacks to the ancient past dot the narrative, but their abruptness and lack of clarification sometimes confuse rather than illuminate the story, even though Vineyard’s lyrical style will keep readers consistently engaged. Further chapters could allow this world to more fully unfold; in the meantime, however, this superb read provides a powerful adventure.
Deep myths and thrilling magic that will excite young readers.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2010
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Coin Bump
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A simple ABC book whose vibrant photographs will grab kids’ attention.
Debut authors Pi and Pi offer a debut picture-book alphabet of occupations, featuring photos of children playing dress-up.
Each of the 26 pages of this book features a photo, with illustrated details, of a child in the midst of a game of dress-up and imagination. The first shows a cheerful girl, costumed as a doctor, imagining, “What can I be today?” For “A,” a young artist paints on an easel; then, in a transition sentence, she decides to do ballet. The next page shows a ballerina who, when she gets hungry, visits a chef—and so on. Most transitions make sense, and the photos of children with occupation props, set against mostly white backgrounds, offer plenty of smiles. The simple sentences make this book easy to read aloud to its early childhood target audience. However, a few job titles may be a stretch for them to understand, such as “geologist,” “horticulturalist,” and “optician.” The jobs are varied and include artistic positions (illustrator, knitter, musician), service professions (firefighter, judge, librarian, soldier), and science jobs (engineer, X-ray technician). Surprisingly, the only sports-related position is an umpire, but a leading question at the end, about other jobs that one may discover, leaves room for young listeners to create their own.
A simple ABC book whose vibrant photographs will grab kids’ attention.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4808-5453-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Poems and images that ask readers to appreciate a searching body for its beauty and grace.
Diehl’s debut poetry collection showcases the arduous search for human connection and self-understanding.
In free verse poems that combine strong metaphors with prosaic passages, the poet wanders along a lifelong path of self-knowledge. She first describes it as a “pilgrimage…to accept what’s been deemed unworthy inside us,” and the trail leads to important insights. In a plainly stated yet necessary reminder, the author asserts that being human, despite the loneliness one may encounter, “is not a solitary pursuit.” Above all else, the book voices a desire for transparency in the self and in others. In “Clear Stream,” moving water illuminates objects within it, even as mystery waits at the bottom, and the water’s clarity corresponds to the speaker’s offering of his- or herself to view: “Here I am. // Come see me if you want.” Sometimes the tumble of words in these short stanzas suggests a pouring forth of injury: “It’s the show-stopping blow of loss upending a heart pain over pain till capacity for love regulates its beating.” Readers will understand a back story involving love and loss, difficulty in communication, sadness, and acceptance of children growing up. The poems gain strength from well-chosen accompanying images, including sketches and paintings by Dimenichi and colorful works by Jamaican-born painter Powell that enrich the verbal landscape. Several full-page images by each artist appear, suggesting a thematic connection or amplifying an emotion in a given poem. A richly textured, grand illustration of a tree by Dimenichi, for example, appears alongside a poem that celebrates the inspiration of such towering entities. A poem concerned with self-reflection joins a Powell painting of floating, twinned female forms. The figures seem to both depict and satisfy the speaker’s need to be seen, with their emphasis on mirror images, body doubles, and echoes of shapes. Even the windshield of a car can be a “two way mirror” behind which the driver is “invisible to life outside.” An explicitly female body is glimpsed in the sketches, and the warm, dreamlike compositions give it substance.
Poems and images that ask readers to appreciate a searching body for its beauty and grace.Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-304-13091-4
Page Count: 58
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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