A detailed, evocative novel about a powerful heroine that revels in its emotional highs and lows.
In this debut YA fantasy, a teenager and her nomadic aunt finally return home to a secluded island and their secret lineage.
Eleanora “Nora” Stone is almost 18. She and her Aunt Ada live in Washington, D.C., but have resided in 25 different places across the U.S. Now they’re about to move again, this time to Stone Isle, Maine, where their family originally hails from. Nora hopes the island will prove a more permanent home, despite it being haunted with the memories of her mother’s and grandparents’ deaths at sea. Her research reveals that Stone Isle is a secluded community, with only six high school students, that’s still dependent on landline phones. Settling into her ancestral home, Nora chooses her mother’s old bedroom. She soon finds letters between her parents in which her father, Alexo, says that someday they’ll be “free to love,” with “no more secrets, no more hiding, no more fear.” Nora asks her aunt for more family history, but Ada refuses to explain until four days have passed. In the meantime, Nora catches up with Eben, a boy her age who’s been avoiding her along the beach. He tells her that he ran from her, a beautiful girl, because local legends of deadly sirens abound. Dory surrounds readers in the eeriness of coastal Maine. She draws from Greek and Basque mythology in depicting the ancient lineages of the Sereni women and their vicious Lamian rivals. That Nora is the key to peace between the two bloodlines feels inevitable, but she develops a vast array of powers—like superhearing, speed, and other, more ferocious ones—that make her seem like an entire team of X-Men unto herself. An effectively sensual love triangle featuring Nora, Eben, and Aston Boxam (her Sereni-Lamian trainer) provides light against the tale’s deep, dark back story, which shuttles nefarious Elders, murderous twins, and Shapeshifters in and out of focus quickly. Dory also avoids the safety inherent in high school fantasy/dramas with a refreshingly spooky locale and stakes that continuously ripple through her protagonist's soul.
A detailed, evocative novel about a powerful heroine that revels in its emotional highs and lows.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4602-7526-9
Page Count: 360
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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