Not revelatory YA, yet an engrossing, easy read that should appeal to young readers ready for a fantasy adventure.
In his debut YA book, Yeaman creates an action-packed adventure focused on a young girl named Chloe who’s unexpectedly summoned to save the world from the reign of an evil maharajah with magical powers.
Chloe is just a normal 9-year-old girl, coping with the recent tragedy of losing both of her parents to unexpected and unexplained causes. Her aunt and uncle take her to live with her grandmother Jen in the secluded woods of California, where she learns of enchanted animals and animate objects living in the attic. She makes the acquaintance of Mr. Oppum, a friendly opossum with a perfect British accent who explains that her grandfather, during his travels in India, acquired a magical purple jewel that grants household objects and animal friends the power of human consciousness and speech. Much to the dismay of Mr. Oppum, Chloe and some animate objects, part of the jewel is in the possession of the evil maharajah Rasheem, who’s abusing its powers to rule the world. In the company of Mr. Oppum, a mouse named Monty and a magic flying carpet appropriately called Mr. Carpet, Chloe travels across the globe to take the jewel from Rasheem and give power back to the people of Earth. On the way, she collects two orphan companions, Onri and Ayla, who want to kill the maharajah. This action-packed adventure starts off slow, with lengthy, uninteresting stretches describing Chloe having meals with her grandmother, sleeping and being upset about her dead parents. However, once the action kicks off, the story transforms into a fairly engrossing read with a violent climax and utopian moral. Dialogue can be repetitive and predictable, though the story’s strength lies in its well-laid adventure, which sticks close to the structure of a hero’s journey. Yeaman’s first novel doesn’t have much diversity in word choice and sentence structure, but it’s nonetheless a fine attempt at encapsulating the classic YA trope of saving the world, with some spirituality and environmentalism thrown in for much appreciated intellectual fodder.
Not revelatory YA, yet an engrossing, easy read that should appeal to young readers ready for a fantasy adventure.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615904290
Page Count: 202
Publisher: jerry yeaman
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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