A fairy tale with imaginative characters and engaging artwork that might have benefited from a tighter narrative focus.
Franks explores themes of resilience, reinvention, and friendship in this nature-based third installment of a fantasy series.
The story centers around Wynter, a woman who leaves her husband, Aidan, after discovering that he was deceiving her and was involved in activities that harmed the environment. In the Crooked Forest, a shapeshifting hare named Kai crosses paths with Wynter and leads her to a “strange and surreal world,” where a fairy named Pumpkin Berry cares for Wynter while a windstorm rages outside. After the storm passes, Wynter leaves and stumbles upon the hut of Old Mother Troll. She, along with an owl, teaches her how to perceive deception. Meanwhile, Aidan catches Luna, a little person known as a Shun, illegally gathering mistletoe and tries to stone her before she escapes. Luna’s health deteriorates without the mistletoe, so a Corgi friend named Sir Gyzmo sets out to find some. In the forest, he encounters the Green Man, who saves Luna’s life. In the final chapter, Wynter confesses to her new friend Luna that she’s lost faith in love. Luna shares her own failed relationship story but advises Wynter that “Broken love can be like broken glass. You will only hurt yourself trying to put the broken pieces back together.” The book closes with Wynter, Luna, Luna’s daughter Willow, and Sir Gyzmo forming a chosen family. Among the book’s creative mythical creatures and storylines, Franks sprinkles in fun facts, such as that “hares can run more than forty miles per hour and can jump up to ten feet in the air.” The narrative also offers lessons about emotions, as in a description of grieving Aidan, who “felt stark and gloomy, like a tree that has shed all its leaves and is left naked and unprotected.” Frank’s earth-toned illustrations enhance the spooky, otherworldly atmosphere. However, some of the talk about relationships may prove too mature and unrelatable for younger audiences, and the book’s numerous characters, locations, and backstories often make for a chaotic narrative.
A fairy tale with imaginative characters and engaging artwork that might have benefited from a tighter narrative focus.Pub Date: July 1, 2021
ISBN: 9781664179820
Page Count: 58
Publisher: XlibrisUS
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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